art_enthusiast

1 hour ago, Sim said:

My two little niggles are:  1)  after all these years they still haven't been able to organise a bear that bears any resemblance to a bear.  I took a friend along and in the interval she said 'what bear?' which is just what I said on my first viewing.   "Exit, pursued by a bear" is probably the most famous stage direction in the theatrical canon, and yet you have to be eagle-eyed and know where to look in order to see it. 

Yes - this was my first viewing and I certainly didn’t spot the bear! 
 

I actually forgot about that stage direction - The Winter’s Tale as a play is relatively unknown to me, though I have now been inspired to read it when I get the time. In school, there was a massive focus on Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, King Lear, Midsummer Night’s Dream - the Winter’s Tale rarely got a look in!

Realised I forgot to mention Melissa Hamilton and Calvin Richardson (incidentally one of my favourite Manon pairings this run) A lot has been said here about Richardson’s grace and fluidity, this was definitely displayed to great effect at Polixenes. I really enjoyed his dancing with Cesar, I would like to see them cast in more things opposite each other - same for Cuthbertson who had great chemistry with both of them, I think.

Melissa Hamilton’s acting as Paulina was superb, from her confrontation with Leontes to recognising Perdita at the end - loved it.

14 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

I think that prayer will be in vain I'm afraid - R&J always top dollar, and the anticipation for Onegin (virtually the only production being anticipated by the fans at least) won't keep the prices down

Hopefully the 15% discount will help here though

3 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

Just as well I don’t plan on seeing any of them at those prices!  It’s a good deal more than Nutcracker was last year, and that was bad enough.

Yes indeed. I feel like I might have to see Alice once though if Stephen McRae is back as the Mad Hatter (I’ve never seen him perform it live).

I wonder what the prices will be like for the National Ballet of Japan…

Will this be streamed?

2 hours ago, Rob S said:

Well that was dramatic!! Steer clear of Cesar, he looks quite incensed by something!!

He certainly brought the drama! He and Lauren were brilliant together. I didn’t know what to expect when I first saw the casting of this pairing as I’m not sure if they’ve danced together before, but I was extremely impressed tonight.

The whole cast was brilliant of course - it goes without saying that Marcelino and Francesca were spectacular, and I loved Marco as Brother Clown, with Meaghan as Shepherdess - I was hoping to see him cast in this role. Act 2 was so joyous and lively.

Wonderful performance overall!

38 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

I think there was advanced booking for that, and I know there are (or were) standing tickets for £25.  But having said that, the show is virtually sold out. 

Yes, assuming it’s partly because of Tom Holland being cast 

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

She was indeed amazing in that Insight; Wheeldon said how wonderful it was to see her dance his choreography.

Yes, I think he said she was too good/performance ready and there wasn’t much feedback to give at some points!

10 minutes ago, Blossom said:

Pricing for Autumn also in the Friends email. Balking at the top price for Alice and Cinderella and foresee tough times sales wise. £190.

190??? That is wild. Basically 200.

And 145 for dystopian Maddaddam? Is it really that good?

Another Ballet Deconstructed from Kathryn Morgan - featuring Yasmine Naghdi & Matthew Ball in the Bluebird Pas de Deux 

I love her analysis - so perceptive about the active balances

20 hours ago, BeauxArts said:

I also am not offended. I just

don’t think it is well-conceived or well-judged marketing. 

I agree. I haven't got a ticket anyway, and this video certainly wouldn't entice me into purchasing one.

7 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Such a shame that so few will be attending when Winter's Tale is actually Wheeldon's most acclaimed and multiply awarded ballet and his second most popular export (staged by other ballet companies) after Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Is it? I don't know much about it at all except from watching random clips on YouTube - which I found very enticing, the music is beautiful. I've booked for tonight's cast and one other - would probably have booked more if not for the expense!

Yesterday I watched the nice long rehearsal video from the 2018 run on ROH's YouTube which featured Fumi and Akane. Akane is absolutely beautiful in that video - she literally floats through the choreography! I'm sad that she isn't performing in this run but hope to see her back soon.

I’m a bit confused - I have a ticket for the 24th performance, why has it completely vanished from the website? It doesn’t even say sold out, it’s just gone.

Has it been cancelled for some reason?

Looking forward to it, I have a ticket for the 16th

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

the solution is not to not give casting information, it's to move the booking dates

That totally makes sense and that's what they should do if they can't give casting - e.g. in the case of the Macmillan and Ashton triples. Booking blind, as people have said previously, isn't always possible when you have to book transport, schedule around time off etc, and with the increased prices it's not possible to buy for several different nights on the off chance that you might see the pairing you want.

For the Ashton triples recently, I went through booking blind and then went back and exchanged a few, losing the £4, after they released the cast the day after public booking. I then had to shuffle other things round, as I'd booked for Next Generation festival events that now clashed with my new Ashton dates, leading to more returns. It may only be £4 but it is annoying and it does add up - and as @JennyTaylor said, that money is now gone from me and although I can use it for future credit, that doesn't count for much in the present moment.

Oh dear, I hope she recovers soon. I had been looking out for any clips or pics on her Instagram 

On 29/04/2024 at 18:31, FionaM said:

A new low from the ROH.  

 

Their only post today on Instagram about this day is to market their shop’s dance products.  I am disgusted and ashamed.  
 

“Celebrate by exploring our curated [read expensive] range of ballet-inspired clothing and collectibles”

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6WAD3-sg6I/?igsh=MW15aXkxYjY0YXUzMA==

I personally have no interest in purchasing any ballet themed clothing that does looks exorbitantly overpriced - I would probably only purchase from their shop if I was getting a novelty gift for an international friend

21 minutes ago, The Sitter In said:

Given they ARE The Royal Ballet, shouldn’t every season be an Ashton season? 

I'd say one or two Ashton works per season as a minimum definitely would make sense. NYCB seems to honour Balanchine a lot more in comparison. 

I assume that triple bills can have multiple different choreographers on them, so there's flexibility there - though I believe it's more common to have every piece from the same choreographer? 

48 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

No doubt some consultancy firm got a nice fat fee for that name/logo change 

A fat fee for a logo that looks like it was made using a WordArt font!

I think Ashley Dean (who I believe does her own art) could have designed a better one.

2 minutes ago, Sim said:

Principals aren't applauded when they appear in, say, R&J, Mayerling, Manon, Onegin....

For Manon I think there is applause when she enters? I remember applauding. But as people have mentioned, Des Grieux is so subtle that no one sees him appear on the stage! I didn't ever see him enter, and I went to about 5 performances this run

15 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

That reminds me of something that slightly irks me with the RB's Swan Lake: Odette getting entrance applause in Act II when she's already appeared in the Prologue.

I see that Act 2 entrance as her first, the Prologue as more of a sort of vision sequence/this is what happened earlier type of thing. I love the Act 2 grand jeté onto the stage, I find it very dramatic and moving and will always clap regardless.

30 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

I don't think recordings of Onegin are 'encouraged' shall we say, nor Balanchine outside of New York (or so I remember from somewhere).

Oh yes, I forgot about all those Balanchine Trust rules. Such a shame!

Very sad to hear this. I really enjoyed her insightful posts on this forum.

I will be thinking of her when I see the Winter's Tale this week. 

14 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

’m glad there aren’t any of the big Tchaikovsky ballets this time round as I think they need a rest, but there are so many other ballets they could, and should, have done. 

Could you name some of the other ones you think they should have chosen? I'm just curious. My knowledge of all the classics aside from Tchaikovsky big 3 and Bayadère isn't very big - I sometimes get confused with what's defined as a classic and what isn't. Is a classic everything choreographed by Petipa basically?

I wish they would bring Raymonda Act 3 back, I love the recording with Osipova and Muntagirov. And I would much rather have had Coppelia at Christmas instead of Cinderella which feels way too recent. Oh well, at least I'll be saving money there!

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

Also if they want to re-screen some of the classics then why not pick performances from a few seasons ago rather than repeating ones we have only just seen?

Exactly, surely it would make way more sense to stream the Balanchine triple and Onegin (not sure if there are recent recordings of it? Can't be that many though)

I love R and J but surely there have been enough cinema streams and recordings of it. There are 2 casts already on ROH Stream I think, and way more in the backlog they can share.