OnePigeon

A bit like the awful My Fair Lady revival at the Coliseum a few years back where Eliza rejects Higgins and walks off on her own. I know she doesn’t end up with Higgins in Pygmalion, but this wasn’t Pygmalion and I left feeling so deflated - and I say this as someone who much prefers Freddie to Higgins, largely because of the gorgeous Jeremy Brett and because if anyone sang On the Street Where you Live about me I would fall at their feet 🤣.

Why do we think Onegin is going to be performed? Is it due to the displays? I have a nasty feeling it’s not going to happen if they’re doing R&J 😬. So far that’s a pretty disappointing season for me as I have no wish to Cinderella again so soon and I’m not bothered about Alice, but I am pleased to see R&J as I haven’t seen it for a long time and really want to catch William Bracewell as Romeo. Not too much longer to wait now (and then I can really have a good whinge. Probably.)

It’s still 16, but you have to be in some kind of educational setting/traineeship up to the age of 18, so maybe doing a vocational course and apprenticeship, or studying A-levels at college or a school sixth form.

Yes indeed! They’ll be better acquainted with the Capital than me. I wonder if they’ll fly home and back - probably cheaper than paying to stay in London, though I hate to think about the jet lag.

I believe it’s only three dancers for Walk to the Paradise Garden, so it may only require some members to stay in London.

I logged on, got in quickly and the same thing kept happening to me @alison. I checked again a few hours later and managed to get one ticket, though I wanted two, then an hour after that I got another (better) ticket. It means my son will have to sit on his own, but he assured me it is worth it! He’s also claimed the better seat 😆😬. I’m so thrilled as this was the cast I wanted to see the most, but it had sold out by the time I was home from work the day booking opened.

I went to a local comprehensive primary and secondary school in a very unglamorous part of a Greater London borough in the 80s/90s. We had a school orchestra at primary school and I can still recall playing Pomp and Circumstance (our poor parents!) and a choir that performed Benjamin Britten songs and performed with other schools in London at the RAH. We had an assembly where each term each class performed a little play for the rest of the school. I wrote a story that the teacher turned into a play and I got to star in it. We used to enter assembly to a piece of classical music which the teacher would then inform us about. Our borough had a music department and building where you hired your instruments and they also had an orchestra and other opportunities for musical students. At secondary school we also had an orchestra, a drama studio and lots of opportunities for creative writing and art. With hindsight, I believe we had a head teacher who really valued the arts and ensured we all had a creative education, but the fact he was allowed to make this choice is what is so different from now. I work in Primary education and have a child currently going through the system. I have to say the opportunities for children to be creative is dire - even their creative writing is prescriptive, with certain sentence structures being dictated and the enforcement of strict planning before writing is allowed to happen. Their music lessons, if they happen at all, are currently based on a bought in scheme which seems to favour (bad) pop music. The arts/humanities subjects are squeezed in in the afternoons and occur once a week each. The government’s obsession with English, Maths and STEM and the subsequent testing and constant threat of OFSTED is destroying the education system and most teaching staff have had enough.

Hirano was indeed in the Two Pigeons as he’s in the filmed version with Cuthbertson/Muntagirov/Keneko.

Casting still isn’t on the website yet either so that won’t help ticket sales get off to a flying start. I don’t think the duplicate programming helps either - most people will only choose one of the triples to attend. Hopefully they will sell well over time though, or alternatively, maybe we’ll be getting in a miff about some people being emailed with a discount code come May 😉.

Thanks so much for the casting @Jamesrhblack. I was holding off booking until casting had been announced after having to swap my Macmillan tickets, so I’m really pleased it’s not been a long wait. Now I just have to decide which casts to see - it’s so hard to get dates and preferred partnerships to align.

I approached this mixed bill with some trepidation after the late and seemingly odd casting announcement, the discount controversy, the mixed reviews here regarding DD and then the last minute cast changes, on top of having a gruelling week at work and very much wishing I was tucked up in my PJs rather than schlepping up to London. However, it was very much worth the trip and I thought every piece was wonderful in its own way. DC was joyous and fun and after my initial discombobulation with the male outfits (Oh Vadim, what have they done to you? 😆) I was able to enjoy the stylisation of the set design and costumes. The choreography was interesting and playful, at times putting me in mind of Balanchine and 1950s musicals: it was somehow of its time and yet so fresh it could have been choreographed yesterday. What an amazing debut piece and one can well see why De Valois gave him the opportunities she did. I was almost dreading DD expecting it to be hideous and unrelentingly miserable. I found it to be incredibly powerful and thought provoking and there was so much to unpack during and after it. I thought the cast last night were incredible and Reece Clarke really impressed me with his portrayal of Woyzeck. I know Macmillan can be too dark for many, but I always find his choreography and vision so strong and interesting, with moments of pure beauty added in, that I always find his work powerful and thought provoking. Requiem was a balm to the soul after the trauma of DD and was the perfect choice to complement the other works. It felt like we had entered a celestial realm with the stark white background, the white costumes and the beautiful flowing choreography, all blending with the beautiful voices raised in harmonious prayer. I am not religious, but this was akin to a religious experience through the power of art taking us to another realm. William Bracewell looked like Michaelangelo had carved him out of marble - as if David had come to life and was dancing before us. After not enjoying most of the NYCB mixed bill the other weekend, I was so relieved that every single piece in this was involving and a real showcase of the incredible varied talents of Macmillan and the RB dancers.

I think my problem with the entire influencer promotion is the shallow, artificial and egocentric aspect to it. Why would you wear a tutu to the ROH when you’re not a dancer? They’re there to be seen, to show off their amazing lifestyles and not to actually promote the art form, but to promote themselves. How often do you see glamorous young people there pouting for their selfies - they look ridiculous and it’s everything I abhor about the vapid, narcissistic society we live in right now. It’s so unhealthy for people to be so wrapped up in their looks and outward appearance. I heard some young women on the train the other day bemoaning their lives because some influencer has their dream life, all the products they wish they could own, a gorgeous boyfriend and spends her weekends doing amazing things. It’s a horrible, sad artifice and it has serious repercussions for people, especially if they’re emotionally vulnerable and it worries me greatly. Put your phones away, stop thinking about yourselves and actually engage with the world and the art you have paid/been given a ticket for. The more businesses and society engage with this form of narcissistic self publicity, the more it becomes viewed as totally normal. It’s damaging to young people and I’m not ok with it.

Thanks @Emeralds, I shall offer my prayers up to the ballet gods then.

Lucky Paris! Is this any indication that the likelihood of getting Onegin in London is now very much diminished, or does it have little bearing? I can’t give up the dream just yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion I’m going to be left disappointed. Better get saving for a trip to Paris I guess.

I’m so disappointed. I couldn’t get any tickets for Nunez in Swan Lake as they sold out so quickly and now I won’t be seeing her on Friday either - I hope she’s ok. I’m afraid to say don’t even know who Lubach is and I’ve never heard of her before.

🤣 it was kindly meant, but I was particularly gutted to miss Mukhamedov in the Judas Tree and I never got the chance to see him in it. I only started going to the ballet around that time too and caught the very end of his career, but I’m so glad I was just in time to witness several great performances (including his final Mayerling, which has never been surpassed for me.) I bet Morera was wonderful in DC too.

Yes she did, I have the cast list for one of their performances. Sadly, I was too ill to attend that night and gave the ticket to my sister, who bought me a programme 😭.

I don’t find any of the 19th century era classics particularly involve me emotionally as they’re just too silly and fantastical to move me, unlike the 20th century classics like Romeo and Juliet, Onegin (I can weep buckets), Mayerling and of course Manon, which provide more human psychological depth for me.

Well maybe some of the non principal dancers? I would be pretty miffed if I was made a principal and then almost every principal but me was given certain roles and then, to add insult to injury, lower ranked dancers were also given principal roles that really should have gone to me. I agree it’s good to be positive and celebratory about his career, but it’s also a little disingenuous to ignore the fact that he wasn’t cast as much as he could have been - and I say this as someone who wasn’t a particular fan of his (as in he wasn’t one of my preferred dancers, not that I didn’t like him.) Mukhamedov was treated appallingly when he departed and was rightly hurt and angry when he first left the RB - these things do happen, it’s not all roses and champagne behind the scenes.

Having read about Forsythe’s Blake Works on here I presumed he was a big fan of William Blake and had choreographed pieces inspired by his art or poetry: it’s only now I’ve had the unfortunate introduction to James Blake that I’ve fallen in. Of all the glorious music created in the world over hundreds of years, in many genres, what on earth is so inspiring about this bland, self aware drivel? My mind boggles.

This was a ballet of two halves for me - and boy do I wish I’d beaten a hasty retreat at the second interval! The Peck was fine, pleasant enough and well danced. It was wonderful to see Megan Fairchild and Roman Mejia in this piece and it had me wishing I could see more of Mejia. Duo Concertant was the piece I booked for and it lived up to my expectations: the music was beautiful, the dancing by Woodward and Stanley was lyrical, joyful and then poignant and very moving and the narrative had me shedding a tear at the end. I’ve finally seen Balanchine danced by NYCB and I’m happy to have experienced it. I could weep for the lost opportunity of what we could have seen though. If I could have left there on a high I would have had a much more positive afternoon because what followed depressed me. Gustave is just a big why? The costumes were hideous, the semaphore crossed with stomach cramp choreography was dull and uninspiring and I just wanted it to end. I had never heard of James Blake prior to this and let’s just say I wish I had remained ignorant because any enjoyment I may have found from the choreography (and I’m not sure I would have) was drowned out by the godawful racket coming out of the speakers - it was a loud, turgid horror show and the bass was vibrating uncomfortably at times. I don’t enjoy the blending of hip hop and ballet and this certainly hasn’t changed my mind. I can’t remember the last time I was so relieved for something to end.

He stepped in at the last minute as the replacement Prince in the Nutcracker for Reece Clarke when I saw it and for someone else too the night before, I believe, so he’s being given opportunities across the spectrum of roles. He was a very attractive Gaoler in Manon, though that isn’t the reaction I should have had to such a despicable character! He does have a very commanding presence on stage and I always notice him with his height and incredible Nordic bone structure.

My son is a similar age and has had no problem sitting through anything we’ve seen. He saw the ENB Nutcracker as his first ballet (also aged 9), but Sleeping Beauty a few months later was his first RB ballet and he loved it - so much so that he’s subsequently seen Cinderella, Don Q, Giselle, RB Nutcracker and suggested we go to see NYCB despite not fancying the program as it’s a great opportunity to see them! It’s bankrupting me. I would maybe opt for a matinee though as I find evening performances can be a bit of a struggle for him, though having said that, he loves Vadim and we could only get an evening Swan Lake this time. It sounds like your son will love Swan Lake and I think he’s old enough for the grown up version as long as the synopsis is explained beforehand.

I have had to rush out for a booster seat on a few occasions when someone tall has sat in front of me and it is clear my view is going to be severely restricted. They aren’t very comfortable and I do feel like I’m going to slide off them, but I’m willing to forego some comfort in order to actually see what I’ve paid for. I definitely recommend them as an option. I would say, though, that the first few rows, whilst amazing for proximity to facial expressions (I could actually hear Vadim breathing when I saw Manon), aren’t as good as a few more rows back to get a proper sense of the stage and the patterns of the choreography - the Corps dancing and sense of scale loses some impact in my opinion.

Yes indeed, I’m going to see this on my own as nobody else I know was interested. They’re not exactly my first choice Macmillan works either. The only advertising I see about it on Facebook is the red RB graphic which merely says Macmillan casting now announced, with no other info - not exactly enticing is it?