Bluebird

1 hour ago, OnePigeon said:

I believe AV1 (Audio Visual) would refer to it being filmed, I presume as a safety performance to splice into the live cinema relay for the evening performance should they need to.

Thank you. I knew AV1 was a video coding format but I’d rejected that explanation as I couldn’t imagine it was one used for professional, high definition filming. Nonetheless, I’m sure you’re right as I can’t think what else it can mean.

2 hours ago, capybara said:

Natalia Osipova, Reece Clarke, Mayara Magri, Alexander Campbell, Gary Avis Saturday 3 February 1pm (AV1)

Many thanks for posting this information, Capybara.  It's very much appreciated!

I've quoted the February 3 matinée cast as I have to confess my ignorance. I have no idea what (AV1) signifies.  If any Forum members know its meaning, it would be good if they could let us know.

Note to Mods:

Doesn’t this discussion deserve a thread if its own? It certainly doesn’t have much to do with the title of the thread: ‘Royal Ballet Promotions 2023’.

12 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

Thanks @Sim, @annamk and @Bluebird for explaining that DH said it was (paraphrasing) about looking forward.

 

I stand by my astonishment that in a "60th anniversary celebration" that that should be stated as the case.

But, on the other hand, by putting the pieces which require exemplary classical technique alongside the contemporary pieces, he was illustrating the range and versatility of the current Company.  OK, he was ignoring much of the rep of the last 60 years but since he was focusing on the potential of his talented dancers,  I think it makes sense that he was looking forward rather than  looking back.

9 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

In fact as a representation of the company over 60 years, it was really rather unrepresentative.

In his pre-performance speech, David Hallberg mentioned that the contents of the Gala wouldn't be representing the works done by the Company over the previous 60 years.  If I remember correctly (I'm happy if to be corrected if anyone remembers differently), he said that the Gala would, instead, be showing the work of important contemporary choreographers and named the ones whose work would be shown.

Edited to add that Annamk and I must have been posting at the same time!

3 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I'm having considerable difficulties using the seat plan on my phone at all but when I finally persuaded it to recognise that I'd clicked on a seat it just brought up the seat view photo with no price information. So I'm none the wiser as to how much the side stalls circle bench seats will be but I'm not optomistic.

The row C bench seats are £49

58 minutes ago, Blossom said:

Are the prices correct on the seat plan? They aren’t consistent with what is published in the magazine.

Which ones are different? I’ve checked Manon, Bohème, Tosca and Elektra and they’re the same.

Edited to add I only checked the amphitheatre prices. Maybe lower down the House the prices are different to those quoted in the magazine?

I just noticed another strange Manon pricing decision.  Amphitheatre A29, at the extreme side of the centre block, will be £49.  Amphitheatre A28, which is classed as Lower Slips and is a mere aisle away from A29, is priced at £14.  Obviously the view from A28 is a bit more restricted than that from A29 but a £35 price difference from one side of the aisle to the other?

30 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

Unfortunately, unprintable for me in that format.

I had the same problem and found that, if I saved it as a pdf, it was possible to print it.

Historically, opera prices have been considerably higher than ballet prices.  It looks like they intend to change this for the lower priced seats. I've just compared the Winter Season  opera prices for seats in the Amphitheatre  to the  ballet prices for seats in the Amphitheatre:

The top two prices are higher than for Manon. Except for Bohème, the third price and fourth prices are similar.

Apart from the five restricted view seats at the very back,  the lowest price  is higher for Manon than for all the operas! For Manon, this lowest price only applies to a number of seats in the rear amphitheatre, the extreme sides of rows L-R and the restricted view seats in rows L and M.

I've tried to put this into a table.  Hope it works!

(NB The price bands for the slips for opera were different to those for Manon so it was too complicated to include the slips prices in the table).

Manon

99           79           63           49           34

Cav/Pag

118        86           65           48           32

Bohème

132        97           78           49           25

Tosca

118        86           65           48           32

Elektra

108        79           64           49           24

It looks like the price bands, created for Don Q, have been kept for Manon. 

4 hours ago, Sim said:

I know it's early, but does anyone know when we might expect casting for this production?  I absolutely love it so would like to go a couple of times, but I would like to know who I am paying to see.  I wonder if the casting system will be any different under the new director, i.e. will they let us know in good time to buy the tickets we want?  Or should I just go in 'blind' while the affordable tickets are still available?  Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

last season, Swan Lake casting was released December 16 for a run of performances that started January 12. Not a lot of notice.

Having said that , those of us who have the advantage of being seniors, get a  £5 discount  on front row balcony seats. This works out at only £10 a seat  so it’s possible to book a large number of performances  and thus to have a good chance of seeing as many casts as possible 

Just noticed that the names of last night’s pas de trois and the demi soloists in Diamonds are now on the Australian Ballet website:

https://australianballet.com.au/performances/international-tour/jewels

4 hours ago, Bluebird said:

 

It was definitely Drew Hedditch.

 

Edited to add that I think it's nothing short of disgraceful that the Company fails to credit the dancers in the pas de trois.  They might not dance quite as much as the two leading couples but they have an extremely important role in the ballet and are integral to its structure.

Maybe the powers that be at the Australian Ballet read this Forum?   The pas de trois are credited on tonight's cast list!

https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/Jewels/TAB-Jewels-Cast-Sheet-03-08-23.pdf?_ga=2.188272552.1807131079.1690707539-1332193509.1615112770

Edited to add that they've also listed the demi soloists in Diamonds!

9 minutes ago, alison said:

 

He didn't look red-headed to me (and I can't be sure from the photo in the programme whether or not it was him.  Not sure who else it might have been, though).  I liked him very much, though.  Really surprised to see that the trio weren't credited.

It was definitely Drew Hedditch.

Edited to add that I think it's nothing short of disgraceful that the Company fails to credit the dancers in the pas de trois.  They might not dance quite as much as the two leading couples but they have an extremely important role in the ballet and are integral to its structure.

37 minutes ago, capybara said:

But @Bluebird the Stalls Circle Row B sides bench seats virtually doubled in price (to £112) for Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella last season. Perhaps that overcharging was part of the experiment?

The disparity in treatment between that area of the House and the Amphi is beyond me.

Thank you for letting me know about that.  I've just checked the 2022 prices for Swan Lake and those same seats were £81 so it was a bit under a 40% increase to £112 (if my arithmetic is faulty I'm happy to be corrected). I agree this was a huge increase and I'm glad to see they've come to their senses! The better seats in these rows are now priced at £83 with the ones nearer the stage at £67.  It's good to be able to say something positive about the pricing - i.e. they've recognised that the restriction in view is greater, the closer the seat is to the stage. 

By the way, I also compared the 2022 Swan Lake prices to the 2023 Don Q prices for the bench seats in Stalls Circle Row C.  Those prices have been reduced.  They were £67 for Swan Lake and are £52 for Don Q.

11 hours ago, JohnS said:

I think there’s another strand to your concern @RHowarth. If there’s a reduction in the number of price categories and the differentials between price categories are also reduced (even if the reductions are marginal), doesn’t that inevitably mean medium/lower prices must rise … unless top prices fall which seems unlikely?

But, when you compare the prices for Beauty and Cinderella to those for Don Q,  some top prices have, indeed, fallen:

For Beauty and Cinderella, the top price in the amphitheatre was £112.  For Don Q it's £104.

In the side stalls circle, the decrease is even greater: 

For Beauty and Cinderella,  the bench seats in Stalls Circle row B (16-27 and 86-97) were £112.  For Don Q these seats have two prices: £83 and £67

The explanation for the large reduction in price of these stalls circle side seats could be that they have a restricted view. However, if they can lower the price of these seats because of their restricted view,  how can they justify the very steep increase in price for the restricted view front side amphitheatre seats?

26 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

 

I deleted my previous post because I was hopeful that a second email from the RBS would 'deliver' but both contain only the latest edition of ENCORE.

Perhaps one has to be a Member now, as distinct from a Friend, in order to be sent the link?

 

 

I'm a 'mere' Friend and I received the link.  It actually appeared as a message from Christopher Powney.  Could it have gone into your junk mail?  If not, it might be worth contacting the Friends of the RBS and asking them to send you the link.

An intriguing email just received from the ROH:

We look forward to welcoming you to Don Quixote on 7 November. 

For your awareness, we have taken all remaining seats off sale for reasons we are excited to announce in the coming weeks. Please be assured that this will have no impact on your booking or on your experience of the performance.

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

This feels expensive for Manon, which sometimes sells rather slowly. Assuming the £34 Amphi price applies to the front sides, that's a very steep increase on the £18 I paid in October 2019 during its last run.

At the risk of repeating myself, this is not as steep as the rise in the price of the front side amphitheatre for Don Q:

Don Quixote prices 2019 v 2023:

February/March/April 2019:  Front side amphitheatre priced at £19

September/October/November 2023: Front side amphitheatre priced at £52

Of course, we have no way of knowing if the £34 price applies to these seats.  If they follow the Don Q pattern, they'll be in the £49 band!!!

Edited to add that I've just compared the way the prices are laid out in the Winter Magazine to the way the Don Q prices were laid out in the Autumn Magazine.

Don Q Amphitheatre  £104 £83 £67 £52 £36 £26 £14

Manon Amphitheatre £99  £79  £63 £49 £34 £14 £8

As we know, due to: "a small number of mis-steps, brought to our attention by our valued friends and patrons", the places in the £26 price band for Don Q were reduced to £14 because this band included the Stalls Circle Standing places where these 'mis-steps' had occurred.  However, the £36 and £52 bands remained and were unchanged. 

If the price bands prove to be similar to the Don Q price bands, the rear amphitheatre and the restricted view rows L and M seats will be £34 but the A-E front side amphitheatre will be £49.

I sincerely hope that this interpretation of the pricing details in the Winter Booking Period Magazine proves to be wrong.

On 26/07/2023 at 08:42, Sophoife said:

 

 

Since Covid and the change in AD, the company has lost principals Ty King-Wall, Kevin Jackson, Adam Bull and Andrew Killian, plus senior artists Cris Martino, Dana Stephensen and Chris Rodgers-Wilson.

Dana Stephensen is scheduled to be a lead Fandango dancer in next Sunday's 60th Anniversary Celebration.  Has she not yet left the Company or is she coming back as a guest?

20 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

Looking at the photos reminds me of something I meant to ask: does anyone know which production the Swan Lake costumes are from? As I knew immediately that it wasn't the RB's I had assumed it was BRB's but a quick Google indicated that they aren't.

Carlos’ costume is, almost certainly, from the Royal Ballet’s 1987 Anthony Dowell production. I’m not sure about Nela’s costume but it could well be from the same production.

40 minutes ago, Tiptoesmama said:

Yes I was thinking I might try for these - they are on the side so quite near the stage too which I think she will like.  There are some front row in the balcony too… I think @Emeraldssaid the balcony has a good view on the front row too.  Fingers crossed they are still there on Wednesday! 

The balcony front row is fine if you're in or near the centre block.  The sides can, however, be very problematic.  I've not sat there myself but friends have told me that, despite the high price of these seats,  the view of the stage can be obscured by neighbouring patrons leaning forward.

29 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Was Apollo in full or only an exerpt?

I’m pretty sure we were just missing the prologue:  Leto gives birth to Apollo and when we first see him he’s wrapped in a swaddling cloth.  He takes his ‘first steps’ and the handmaidens then unwind the swaddling cloth.  As he’s learning to move they bring him his lute (lyre?) The complete ballet is on YouTube.  I’ll send you a PM with the link.