Benjamin

Exciting! It makes sense for Nycb to be touring in their 75th Anniversary Season. Hopefully the programme is announced soon. 

Here’s my roundup of predictions for The Royal Ballet Season 23/24

It should be revealed on April 26, A week from now (date pretty likely, Source: Box office) 

Confirmed: (Source: ROH Schools Matinees 23/24)

The Nutcracker, Dates In December Confirmed, Possibly dates in Nov and Jan. 

Swan Lake, Dates in April Confirmed, Possible dates in February to June.

Not Confirmed but Likely:

Macmillan Rotation: 

Manon (Probably in Oct, Nov)

Co production Previously played by co producer:

Maddaddam (Probably in Oct)

Seasonally Scheduled:

Two Bills (presumably Triple Bills)

New Production of a story ballet? Previous seasons example: New Cinderella (22/23), Like Water For Chocolate (21/22), 20/21 doesn’t really count, I thought I had good reasoning for this but 19/20 doesn’t really have one either.

And probably some more revivals, can’t wait for this season to be announced.

Does that mean we won’t be getting Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, because I would assume that would get a schools matinee?

3 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

No surprises but a couple of ballets confirmed for next season here: https://www.roh.org.uk/schools/school-matinees

Why am I not surprised! The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Like I can have Swan Lake but just a years break from the nutcracker, please? Every other British company does it. 

6 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

And many dancers now have agents who get them (e.g.) modelling assignments; photoshoots; 'red carpet' appearances; magazine features; bought blocks of profile-enhancing IG 'followers'. A number post daily and offer 'essays' relating to their lives and thoughts.

 

I'm not going to mention names but at least one dancer whom many would regard as a huge star has/does none of these things - apart from using self-managed IG and FB accounts. And Laura, who eschews social media, is a star for me - big time!!!!

 

[PS. Arguably, the additional activity I list above is beneficial to the art of ballet, so I'm not 'against' it - just noting the different approaches.]

 

 

 

It’s become part of the job, sadly, but also gives us an interesting perspective so you win some, lose more. I’m always here for the red carpet looks.

9 hours ago, alison said:

Various other comments on the

- Still don't like the "highlighter pen" colours of some of the season Fairies' outfits

 

- I seem to be suffering from Prokofiev Cinderella earworms of various sorts, 24/7.  Help!!!  Totally impossible to get out of my head, it seems.

Agree with the fairies, way to bright, the colour needs to be toned down. Also the small decorative flowers only on the seams looks so weird to me.

And on hearing Prokofiev’s Cinderella 24/7, isn’t that a good thing? I have it too in my head (from the cinema stream) and I’m loving it. Prokofiev was a genius.

Just now, Sophoife said:

 

No, as I said, their mid-season break is usually late July-August. This year I believe the break will be after the company returns home from London at the end of the first week in August.

 

The last Australian performance of Jewels will be in Melbourne on Saturday 8 July. The London season opens on 2 August.

Sorry probably said the wrong thing and again, forgot to re-read. Only a short while to send sets and costumes over but it’s definitely possible.

25 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I HATE it when the bows are very quick. This is the opportunity for the audience to show their appreciation to the dancers/conductor/orchestra and it strikes me as incredibly discourteous to both sides if time is not allowed for this. Are the audience irrelevant? Do the dancers not deserve acclaim? (Well, usually they do!). It's all part of the live theatre experience and if it doesn't happen the performance is not really complete.

Agreed, it’s a great opportunity to congratulate the dancers and orchestra (not that you can see them but that’s just how theatres work) But I do understand when it goes too long because both the audience and we can assume the dancers want to home eventually.

20 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

 

...which of course is not a consideration with AusBallet.

 

Calendar year equates to season, sometimes February, sometimes March start, with a grand finish in Sydney just before Christmas. Summer holidays are Christmas and January. Mid-season break late July or August - this year August.

 

Wrenching this back on topic, Jewels (a company premiere - they have never danced any of it before) will have been performed 24 times in Sydney and then Melbourne before being brought to the ROH.

I guess it makes a lot of sense to have the break in late December and January, because that’s the summer, Do they usually tour in August? Also it’s good service for London audiences when it’s just first performed a few months before London, but I guess it was supposed to be Kunstkamer so, yeah. 

9 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Just to echo others, Benjamin, your enthusiasm is sweet and sometimes funny (I mean as in amusing, I don’t mean as in laughable), but we often do correct errors - not to be unkind or overly strict, but so that other readers don’t get misled or misinformed, so please don’t feel you are being pulled apart. Sometimes the corrections are also informative for other readers. 

Thank you, Sorry but I thought it was coming across the other way. But now I understand. I really should fact check what I’m saying. Sorry!

8 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Cavycapers, to be on the safe side, I would calculate 90 minutes plus 2 intervals of about 25 or 30:minutes each (I suspect they’ll only need 25 to change the sets, but some companies want 30). If you are calculating in order to catch public  or drive home, it is safer to over estimate than underestimate. 

 

All the companies that have ever performed Jewels in London (including Russian companies) have had two intervals. Australian Ballet might be able to have only one interval in Australia if their stage equipment are different or stage crew work differently, but there’s no guarantee they will be doing the same in London. Again, safer to estimate 1h 45mins or 1h 50mins and have time to spare than to be caught out by underestimating. 

I wonder too, maybe they will do the stay in the theatre, keeps the lights down 5 minute interval in-between each jewel, but I think 2 intervals makes more sense.

7 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I'm confused now! They're roughly the same capacity, but the Coliseum holds about 100 people more than ROH IIRC.

 

@Benjamin, I'm sorry if you think we're getting at you, but you make quite a few assertions that aren't necessarily true! You do make me laugh though, so please don't go away.

Wait it does? To be honest I didn’t realise, Coli looks smaller, Thank you for saying this because I would have never known. But now I’m starting to see that, should have looked it up. I probably am doing making some assertions, but I’m glad you find me funny!

38 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

To be honest, I think the most likely reason for the error is that people instantly think they meant last visit to London, not last visit to ROH. (I too imagined that but then realised they meant a different venue...which seems a bit like splitting hairs. But maybe some companies feel that dancing on the stage that the Royal Ballet dance on is more special or noteworthy than the home of English National Opera.) 

 

PS sorry to split hairs as well, Benjamin, but the Colosseum is in Rome. 😉 The theatre in London is the Coliseum. (Blame your autocorrect on your device!)

Yeah I feel like the Royal Opera Hoaue is a more famous and well known venue, but it’s way bigger which means more seats to sell, so that could be daunting for guest companies. Also the Royal Opera Hosue has way less available dates only in July-August. Most companies are on break then or won’t have time to rehearse because they are just back from break.

7 minutes ago, Benjamin said:

Agreed, but I didn’t start this argument, I said something, and people replied.

Which I believe to be one of the points of this forum.

3 minutes ago, bridiem said:

The only ways in which the ROH and the Coliseum are similar are that they are both horseshoe-shaped with a lot of gold in the auditorium. Otherwise they are completely DISsimilar and also have a completely different feel about them. Personally, I greatly dislike the Coli which I find alienating and cold and I love the ROH which I find warm and welcoming.

Then they are slightly similar, It seems. 

1 minute ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Does it really matter???

 

What matters is the enjoyment and atmosphere that audience members experience in the theatres not what the theatres look like!

Agreed, but I didn’t start this argument, I said something, and people replied.

3 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

The curtain at the Coliseum is purple, not red.  The Coli has a proscenium arch whereas the ROH has a straight top.

Ha ha good point it’s purple but has a bit of red in it. The Coli has a curved arch and the ROH is flat, I know that but it’s still a proscenium arch? In gold? Red curtains are hanging below the top. 

Just now, zxDaveM said:

 

they are exactly the same, except they're completely different. Though they do both have seats and a stage and everything!

There are not exactly the same nor completely different. I try to back someone up, then explain myself and people reply like this, anyway…

37 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

And with a heck of a lot of theatres in the UK.  Perhaps they are also similar to the Liverpool Empire!
 

All these theatres are architecturally dissimilar and, in my experience, all proscenium theatres have similarly styled curtains and many of them are red!

Most theatres look similar, they have similarities. Most theatres in the UK look similar. I don’t know why you react to me like this. Someone makes a mistake in their post and I reply with that’s a mistake I understand, they are similar. Are they not? 

8 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

such as?

Colour scheme, Gold, red, cream. Similar proscenium, with gold, and then curtains up the top framing it, and of course the red and gold curtain. Obviously isn’t not that similar but has similarities.

6 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

These theatres are nothing like each other.  For one thing the Coliseum is a Frank Matcham original and the ROH isn't!

 

They aren't very similar, but they have some visual similarities and are both theatres in London. 

7 hours ago, Sophoife said:

I don't know why the long delay, @Benjamin, and I don't know where you live, but in my 10+ year experience of these cinema relays, Australia is always at least two weeks after the UK, and often a month. I think they send the films on a slow boat via China.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a carrier pigeon. 

That’s a long delay, shouldn’t it be just a few hours later on the next day, or a few days, one week? Why over a month for Australia to see it?

23 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

The timings when the RB did it in 2017 were:

 

Emeralds 35 minutes

Rubies 20 minutes

Diamonds 35 minutes

 

Plus two intervals, each of 25 minutes. (I don't know if "1 interval" is an error, it seems strange.)

 

So it's 90 minutes plus interval(s), though the George Balanchine Trust website thinks it should be 81 minutes of dancing.

I assume it’s Emeralds, Rubies, Interval and Then Diamonds. Because Emeralds and rubies are on 55 mins but adding diamonds would be too long without an interval and then don’t have a third of the show being a interval.

3 minutes ago, Benjamin said:

Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Karenina was exhilarating and spectacular, I don’t know if you will like it though. (I assume that’s the one of his works they will perform as it’s the only one in the repertoire)

I wish the would announce the full programme but let’s hope it’s soon.