Don Q Fan

Groupon has a deal for both of Sunday's Don Qs half price I believe but need booking by 29th March.

Sounds like Natalia and Ivan did not disappoint - would have loved to have seen them. I have always enjoyed the Mikhailovsky's Giselle so look forward to Friday's performance with Novikova and Sarafanov. I do wonder what has happened to Irina Perren she does not seem to be here this time but she is still with the company? Her Giselle is lovely and I cried buckets when she danced Giselle in Venice (which, incidentally, was devoid of all applause until the curtain calls).

me too....just wish I had not booked the matinee so fast could have got a cheaper one on the day - hey ho I would not miss Don Q for the world though LOL!

I have sent you a PM

Thank you and Janet for the suggestions - JA or MA what is this please?! I am a BRB Friend but sadly often can't make the pre show talks due to work and distance....have seen some ENB which was good.

Still no sign of any casting? There were a few casts mentioned but not full listings. Difficult to book any more without.

KathyG said: Enjoyed all of the jewel dances though slightly distracted by concentrating on some of the costumes (that's my thing) I would love to visit the wardrobe department to take a closer look at some of these. Me too - BRB and RB both have/use the same costume dept and the quality of the costumes is fabulous. I'd love a rummage in the store room LOL!

I can only see the mixed bills too, which do not appeal. I asked at the Coli yesterday about the others and they said stand by tickets are probably most likely from 3 hours before - bit of a risk if like me you live 200 miles away...

I booked online this week but had to make sure you type the code in in upper case lower case doesn't work.-

I felt I battled the weather to get to London yesterday for the Saturday matinee of Aladdin and thanks to Virgin Trains made it all on time with a minor delay! And I was rewarded with another wonderful performance of Aladdin. Some characters were the same dancers as the other performance I saw in Manchester but most were different - Jo Caley and Elisha Willis as Aladdin and the Princess were both great and I loved Jo's cheeky chappy portrayal of Aladdin I think this role suits him very well indeed. Another lovely performance of Diamonds by Celine Gittins and Tyrone Singleton as the baddy. Fab lion dance and dragon dance. Genie was great too - can't remember his name right now but he was just as good a Tzu and Rubies with Tom Rogers and Nao Sakuma = poetry in motion! Loved it and it looked pretty well attended. I hoe it will not be long before we see Aladdin again.

Out in the provinces it is cheaper I agree, but London isn't "that" cheap either. I wasn't being ungrateful I would have just liked to buy more but the prices made that less possible than in the past. C'est la vie.

There aren't that many sold it's the like of standing tickets that go quickly. I believe that ROH restrict seats available to Friends and save some for VHH and general booking or is that a figment of my imagination?

Balcony Centre A-C tickets - where I like to sit - £97 and £85 - Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty are the dearer ones the other ballets the lesser ones. DG Tier are £120 and £110 as are top Stalls and Front row centre Amphi are £70 for some perfs OMG!

I had no hesitation in booking tickets irrespective of the troubles - it's the Bolshoi the world's greatest ballet company - a no brainer for me. What DID stop me booking was the horrendous ticket prices, so far I have just 2 tickets - La Bayadere and Jewels, and I found the seats on dates I wanted were gone in flash so had to settle for different dates mid week evening performance which is inconvenient for me being 200 miles away. I think that more tickets sold this time than the last time they were here. The lack of preliminary casting is a nuisance but it'll be good whatever.

^^ I agree only performances with Osipova/Vasiliev seem to have sold the others are dire such a shame - and yes hoping for a bargain offer or 2 only a week to go so one would think they would do something soon - I hope they do not end up giving tickets away like with ABT - I had paid £70+ and the couple next to me (some very nice students) had got their tickets for nothing or at most a tenner and asked if the company they were seeing was any good - err yes!

Yipee for a new Don Quixote - I hope it's a traditional version! And Jewels as well is good, just a pity about the short run and scheduling in December. Like the look of Winters Tale. Chuffed to see The Concert on offer too I loved this when I saw it in Berlin. The other full length ballets are predictable cash-cows I guess, but it is still a great selection being shown in the cinema (6) this time which is good. I agree re Onegin - its such a good ballet it would have been nice to see it again. Trouble with Paris these days is getting tickets is so hard and you STILL can't select your own seat!

I saw the Lowry opening night with Chi Cao and Natasha Oughtred who were wonderful as Aladdin and his Princess. The whole production was superb from beginning to end, beautifully danced to wonderful music. The BRB dancers were on excellent form (as always) and very together. Marion Tait was Aladdin's mother and her comic portrayal of the role was a joy. I loved the Lion Dance and the Chinese Dragon and Tzu-Chao Chou was wonderful as the Djinn he is so fast! I must give huge praise for the sets and costumes which were stellar - the cave scene in Act1 was not only sprinkled with bejewelled Principals but had a huge number of scenes involving many dancers and as for the Diamonds lead by Celine Gittins fab-u-lous! A great night out and I'd go to see Aladdin again in a heart beat - if you have not got a ticket yet go beat down the doors of the Coli!!

Andrei M in ANYTHING would suit me he's such a fab dancer! Yep got the VH mailing today thank you and am Friend as well but I agree I want an approximate casting before booking although with no O&V in DonQ I am not too worried who I see! In a way it is nice to be able to book to suit ME this time rather than whichever dancer is dancing. That said I would like to catch a glimpse of Olga Smirnova, Maria Alexandrova with Alexander Volvhkov, Andrei Merkuriev, Evgenia Obratsova, Vitaly Bikitimirov(sp) Ekaterina Shipulina and I hope that the character artist who plays DonQ (his name escapes me right now) will be a King in something!! The Bolshoi will be good whatever.

I personally think they will do the evening performances. They are both doing 2 consecutive nights of Don Q in the Mikhailovsky run so with FoP 2 nights on the run and matinee they would need a rest in between so I think the matinee unlikely. I could be wrong of course! Do we know if there will be any form of casting before Friends booking opens on 12 March? I can't see there being a stampede for tickets anyway at this stage if last time was anything to go by.

Oh good Don Q is on!

Well done on finding out the ballet - how fab is that - the power of t'internet

Beautiful tutu! Hope you find out the history.

? Mara Galeazzi?

Ahh that is nice - I went to a flower arranging demonstration by Stephen and David his partner in Port Sunlight years ago - it was very good not only flowers but ballet tales too - it was great and they did a mini competition and 4 audience members had to try to make up a hand tied bouquet - I was "volunteered" but I did end up with a bouquet of lovely red flowers! He's a lovely man, what a nice gesture.

Fabulous photos thank you for the links everyone! I wish I could have been there - and I love a good flower throw.