Beryl H

It looks too good to be true and of course at this stage it is, one change that I booked for is SB where Maria Alexandrova is replaced by Ekaterina Krysanova, I don't mind at all, and I hope Olga Smirnova still dances SL on the 15th, might have to swap if not(last time the ROH were okay with swapping one Bolshoi for another, any production). Since I booked all 3 Flames the last night looks wonderful, Maria Alexandrova and Andrei Merkuriev!!! Thanks for putting this up, I couldn't understand the Hochhauser page.

The balcony was closed last night, I was upgraded from a £15 ticket to a £70 one in the Dress Circle, I imagine the same will happen tonight.

Yes, it must have been in the main section, there was a photo of Lauren Cuthbertson giving technical details of body strains.

Really good news, although Le Corsaire could be described as "family entertainment" it's a great Russian classic, so will keep ballet fans happy too, lots of opportunities for the dancers!

The interview was with Vasiliev and Osipova, not particularly interesting but nice photos, seems like they are in London already, titled "Bye, bye Bolshoi", also there was an article about Lauren Cuthbertson's continuing injuries and the terrible strain ballet puts on the body.

I thought there was a maximum of 9 tickets for Friend's Bolshoi, but either they have relaxed that rule due to low sales, or it is 9 per peformance!

I would point out that the Bolshoi seating and price plan available on the ROH website is inaccurate for the central amphi rows L-M, they are in fact £55/£60 and not £36/£42, the cheap seats (?) start at row N, £36/£42 will also get you a seat from about row J on the sides, the top amphi price of £66/£70 goes up to centre row H. I call these prices horrendous too. Thanks for the casting, I'm tempted to book for Maria Alexandrova's Sleeping Beauty on 8th August!

Mikhailovsky London Coliseum casting changes: Giselle Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th: Denis Matvienko replaces Marcelo Gomes All other dancers remain the same at the moment

At the moment there are 19 tickets for Hansel and Gretel on May 10th, I bought 1 30 minutes in what I thought was a sheer fluke, but now there are 19!

I went to the last performance yesterday and my feelings about the programme didn't change from the first night, think the RB really got Apollo right this time, Rupert Pennefather put a lot of feeling into Apollo, enjoyed it more than I have for a while. 24 Preludes seemed even less substantial the second time, more bitty, although there are some lovely pdd and solo's, it was nice to see the second cast, I for one am glad that it's not danced to a solo piano, I'm not really convinced it's one of Ratmansky's best. On the other hand Aeternum looked even better, I was hoping to see the second cast but Thiago Soares did dance instead of Federico Bonelli, he and Marienela Nunez brought even more intensity to the final pdd, I think this has to be one of Christopher Wheeldon's finest dances, worth the price of the ticket as they say! These two works have produced different views haven't they?

I was hoping that a statement would have been announced by Sergei Filin or the Bolshoi Ballet about the London Season, but in the end I too went ahead and booked hoping that I'm helping the dancers and staff who must be worried that everyone will stay away. I have to say that the lack of casting and the (as usual) very high upper amphi prices didn't help, I can't afford my usual seats, so there is bound to be less advance booking than usual but I was still quite surprised at the slow sales. Everything seems to be carrying on as usual in Moscow, in fact tomorrow night Maria Alexandrova and Nikolai Tsiskaridze dance Sleeping Beauty, it would be interesting to know if the ballet-lovers there are staying away?

Glad to see that Don Quixote will be the Petipa choreography in a new production by Carlos Acosta, should be great, The Winter's Tale sounds exciting too, and Serenade/Sweet Violets/GDV looks a perfect triple bill!

Well I would book for the triple bill if they would show casting on the website, fashion photographs don't help at all! Actually the name "Ecstasy and death" is bound to put people off too.

Well the only recent production I've seen was ENB's which was not as impressive as this RB revival, I think this longer version is preferable, there's an ancient Greek feel to the opening prologue scene which gives a timeless quality to the ballet. Carlos Acosta was such an earthy Apollo too, it came across as more fun than the sometimes more duller, dutiful interpretation.

Well I only saw the evening performance but entirely agree with Simon, Carlos Acosta is one of nature's Apollo's, and I like the prologue in this version, Christina Arestis made a lot of a small role. I was just a little disappointed with parts of 24 Preludes although I liked the orchestration, it sounded more like Debussy than Chopin, there were some wonderful pdd and solo's but overall it reminded me of Dances at a Gathering, inevitable I suppose. Aeternum also reminded me of Gloria but in a good way, thought this was outstanding in all respects, the design and lighting superb, and the most wonderful final pdd for Marienela Nunez and Federico Bonelli, didn't know the music but can't wait to hear it again.

Casting for 24 Preludes is on the ROH website, the second cast only has one performance on 14th March.

Really good tribute to Frederick Ashton last night, in no way overshadowed by Sergei Polunin's return, although it was great to see him again. The best pieces for me were Voices of Spring, exhilirating dancing from Yuhui Choe and Alexander Campbell, and M and A, having seen Fonteyn and Nureyev I feel it should be left to their memory, but last night came the closest I have seen to recreating their magic, although Sergei Polunin says he doesn't want to be a new Nureyev, more a new Barishnikov (in yesterday's Times) it was the best performance I have seen of this ballet by other dancers, Tamara Rojo outstanding too, another emotional ending, ballet at its best!

I've had to look up the casting for Monotones 2 in my brochure, it never has been shown on the website, only Monotones 1, or is it the other way round!

This run of Onegin has more than lived up to the expectations I had when the casting was announced, have now seen 10 new dancers in leading roles in 3 casts, all equally memorable, even manged to see 3 different Gremin's each time too, don't think I could take any more emotion this week especially after last night!

What an wonderful day at the ROH yesterday, like many others any feelings of disappointment at not seeing Johan Jobborg were immediately swept away at the sight of Jason Reilly, one of the best Onegin's I have seen, in fact he dominated the ballet for me as he should. The evening was even more emotional due to so many debuts and again Valeri Hristov's Onegin was the star performance, he acted the role throughout even when coping with the difficult lifts, a more sympathetic Onegin for sure but much more moving at the end. Sarah Lamb, Yasmine Naghdi and Dawid Trzensimiech danced beautifully too, outstanding debuts I would say, hope some curtain call photos surface somewhere! Whilst I have never read the Pushkin I did watch the film recently with Ralph Fiennes, which was part shot in St. Petersburg including the balcony of Pushkin's house (I visited it once, an amazing experience) and Onegin is never as cruel as in the ballet, Tatiana visits him and he lends her books from his library, he doesn't tear up her letter but keeps it, etc. the film credits said it was based on the Pushkin verse! Looking forward to Thursday's cast, am sure there will be more tears!

The atmosphere at the Bolshoi at the moment can't be very inspiring for Wayne McGregor anyway!

The trend at the ROH is for short intervals(20 minutes) when they wish to finish within 3 hours, and 25 or more minutes when they wish to drag out a short programme, many times the intervals are longer than the ballets, don't think this would be acceptable elsewhere, personally I become tired and bored, and lose interest if it's a 3 act ballet. Obviously this affects me more as I have a longish journey home, but I would get just as bored if I lived around the corner!

When I first read of the attack on Sergei Filin I was determined to boycott the Season, I am still not sure. Luckily it's a very depressing repertoire for me, loads of Swan Lakes, 5 Sleeping Beauties, and only 3 Bayaderes, 3 Flames and 2 triple bills (don't even like Classical Symphony) so I won't be going as much as usual if I do go! I know it's nothing to do with the dancers, suppose it depends on whether Sergei Filin wishes it to go ahead.

I think the snow was about 9 inches deep, it's going down now, that's deep for England but then one inch of snow causes travel chaos here which is why we dread it. I got an immediate E-mail reply that the ticket was going on sale and it isn't online now so looks like it has been sold, good idea but you have to look under News.

Although it hasn't snowed again yet, still deep snow in the garden and the pavements are icy and slippery, buses very few and far between, goodness knows what the train situation is, so have E-mailed the ROH for a refund, could be lucky as it's sold out tonight, I have another chance to see Cojocaru/Kobborg on 2nd Feb.