jmhopton

Yes I email the box office too and they are usually reasonably prompt (within 2 or 3 days; sometimes sooner). However in Jan I emailed about a Romeo return I wanted converting to a credit voucher and I seemed to be waiting for days. I was getting slightly concerned as I was only 3 or 4 days to the actual performance and I was going to try and ring when I got an email reply with my voucher number. The address I use is boxoffice@roh.org.uk. I seem to have another address I don't use as often so I'm assuming it's still valid; online.booking@roh.org.uk I too got the email about dealing with booking problems and found it very irritating as it seemed to assume everyone knew what they were talking about. However, I have no idea how to do the 3rd point (clearing cookies, let alone cache as I have no idea what that is). As for the fourth point 'use an incognito browsing window' what does that mean in English and how do you do it? If the ROH do use technical terms they should accompany them with an explanation as to how to carry them out for us technically challenged users.

That's what I keep saying! Just waiting for someone to listen!!

Yes I think I saw it then too Janet as I had a poster saying 'World Premiere' and my brother commented about how far round the world was Northern Ballet likely to go! Those were the days when ENB Tour de Force came to Preston and Northern Ballet (and possibly London City Ballet) came to Blackpool. Blackpool had RB Dance Bites as well but the less said about that the better!

By the Moricone Romeo and Juliet do you mean the one danced in the 1990s, Janet? I think the one I like was the Christopher Gable one which I saw in Blackpool and is my all time favourite Romeo, surpassing even the Macmillan version. I too would live to see Christmas Carol though it wouldn't be the same without the incomparable Jeremy Kerridge whose performance was as iconic as Alistair Sims.

They did used to hold some seats back for public booking Dawnstar but I'm not sure what the current policy is.

Am so glad I've already got a ticket for his swan lake (didn't realise it was his only public one) and hope there are still decent affordable seats left for his Month in the Country when Friends booking opens. Those seats were already under strain because of being the only Laura Morera performance. They're now going to be even more booked up. Still, congratulations and every good wishes to him and his exciting new career. I'm sure he'll be a splendid AD. If he could arrange for Northern Ballet to return to the Grand Theatre, Blackpool, where I have many happy memories of seeing them in the nineties that would be fabulous for me and any local ballet lovers of whom there are many in the Blackpool area.

I had a virtually identical experience, Serenade which also resulted in me missing Raymonda so I'm also wondering about Southampton. Does the fact Southampton has already been announced in what would be the next season, preclude other venues being announced for next season? I'm thinking of Manchester especially, as Raymonda should have premiered there, but Liverpool would also be fairly convenient.

SkyArts Sat 5th Feb 7am-8.30am a repeat of Ballet Lorent Rumpelstiltskin. Talking Pictures Monday 7th Feb 12am-2.20am Nijinsky biopic film starring George de la Pena and Alan Bates.

The Ashton triple is scheduled for Wed 26th Jan on SkyArts at the usual user friendly time of 6.45am! it appears to be the usual one with the Dream and marguerite and Armand. SkyArts are also showing a RB Giselle Wed 2nd Feb at 7am. it SAYS it's Acosta/Osipova but who knows.

Thanks very much MJW and oncnp. That's very helpful. Interesting the top amphi seats are about half what they were for Swan lake and Romeo. I know triples are always cheaper but even so... Still I'm not complaining!

To change the subject rather, does anyone have a link to the pricing for next season, specifically the Ashton programme? I know we can't book yet but I'd like to have some sort of idea as to what to budget for. I think there was a page in the last Friends magazine but I can't find mine. There is a pricing link on the Ashton page on the website but it doesn't seem to bring up any prices as you can't book yet.

Probably not the correct place to post this but I thought more people may see it than under tickets (though I suppose it could be posted in both). I've had an email from London theatres about special offers on some productions and one of them is Anything Goes, back at the Barbican for a 6 week run this summer. The offer seems confined to the 2 week run in July and not in August. I booked a side upper circle for £29.50 and no fees. There was no mention of any discount for these tickets but I noticed the same tickets in August were £36. There are other far more substantial discounts; £59.50 for tickets that cost over £100 but I thought I'd go cheap and hope for the best. I don't know if I've ever been to to Barbican. Are there any rails at all? (I'm rather short). My seat is AA1 in the upper circle. Just remembered to add that casting hasn't been announced yet so you would be 'booking blind' as it were. I'm keeping everything crossed for Sutton Foster again but that's probably not very likely. https://www.londontheatredirect.com/?mc_cid=2e981518e7&mc_eid=e8bad77286

This is showing now. There seems to be a gap of nearly 10 minutes at the start, then, just under 45 minutes, another intermission of about 7 minutes then it plays on until the end. I haven't had chance to see all of it yet but it looks interesting and most pieces new to me.

SkyArts Sun 23rd Jan 6-8.20am Australian Ballet Sleeping Beauty (I think it's been on before.) SkyArts Mon 24th Jan 7.15-8.30am ENB in Paris. Repeated doc about ENBs Corsaire in Paris. Appropriate as a precursor to the Raymonda premiere on Monday also. SkyArts Wed 26th Jan 645-9am Ashton triple repeat; Dream, Symphonic Variations and Marguerite and Armand (Yanovsky's farewell performance)

I remember her hearing say that fairly recently. Was it on the Ashton Foundation film?

I suppose Irek Mukhamedov might be a possibility. He has had some management and choreographic experience and does he not work for ENB as a principal ballet master?

Thank goodness for that! Was the original film shown like this? I saw it at the cinema but don't remember subtitles. However I found the film so engrossing I might have forgotten.

Hurrah! At last! new ballets/ballet films on the BBC. Sat 15th Jan BBC2 10-11.45pm. Yuli: the Carlos Acosta story. Biopic based on the autobiography of the Cuban ballet dancer, from his troubled upbringing in Havana to his emergence as the Royal Ballet's first black principal dancer. Young Carlos is a happy go-lucky street urchin until his truck driver father decides that he should audition for the Havana State Ballet school. It says it's in Spanish. Hopefully that is a mistake! Sun 23rd Jan BBC4 7-7.30pm Danceworks: Ballet Black. The Waiting Game Documentary that explores the work of Artistic Director Cassa Pancho as she nurtures aspiring young dancers and gains recognition for her company's collaborations with world-class choreographers. It also follows the creative process of South African dancer and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November, as he creates a dynamic new ballet inspired in equal measure by Samuel Beckett's seminal Waiting for Godot and his own African rhythms and language Sun 23rd Jan BBC4 9-10.50pm RB Dante Project. No further details given.

Thanks Janet. Since I retired I can't seem to get my head round abbreviations. Sign of brain fatigue if not incipient dementia!

Sorry, I'm not very good on abbreviations. What is the DM facility? Is it direct messaging and, if so, how does it differ from PMs? It took me ages to realise PM meant personal message. I always associate it with Prime Minister which didn't seem right!

When I asked years ago about the possibility of discounted prices/special offers for those of us having to travel long distances, possibly with hotel bills as well for evening performances, I was told that the ROH valued such members who made so much effort, and the reduced matinee prices were to help those who lived at a distance. Does this mean that by scrapping reduced matinee prices we're not valued any more? Wouldn't really surprise me. As JohnS said, the decision was taken in 2018 so they didn't have Covid loss of revenue as an excuse. ENO by comparison, has a range of discounted prices from £5 off for seniors, and reductions for children (something you'd think the ROH would be interested in promoting).

I'm sure he loved Vadim and many of the new, young cohort at the Royal Ballet. Its just there don't appear to be any reviews to support this in this particular collection. Perhaps another book is called for (preferably a bit more lightweight!) though I did like the format and the photographs.

Have started reading this and really enjoying it though I'd prefer it to be less heavy! Love the little bon mots scattered about. Scherazade 2000 has all the erotic charge of a Bath bun. Faroukh Ruzimatov 1990 The back bends and the Theda Bara emotings would have won him a contract with D.W. Griffith. Gaite Parisienne 1999 A chap in an actionable red velvet outfit that made him look like a sofa in a bordello. Coppelia 1995 The Kirov monstrosity combines the worst features of Hellzapoppin and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. Royal Ballet Mixed Bill 1995 Septext, la Ronde, Firstext, Rhapsody In order to see "fearful sights", an Elizabethan herbal recommended anointing the temples with lapwing's blood. There is no need for such recherche` treatment this week; a ticket for the Royal ballet's new triple bill will provide all the fearful sights a dance-lover needs for this year, or any other...The need for this arid tosh in the Covent garden repertory escapes me... My sympathies are with the marvellous Darcey Bussell who's unenviable task is to end the ballet (La Ronde) by wriggling on the ground with all the amorous ecstasy of a grass snake on heat. Hope it's OK to give these quotes. Mods please remove if it's not but I just wanted to give a flavour of the book. Interestingly, he criticizes the RB several times in the 80s and 90s for not making use of past dancers as repetiteurs. Presumably he couldn't do that now with Avis, Saunders and now Ed Watson as permanent ballet masters. Also, Lesley Collier, Darcey, Leanne Benjamin, Dowell and Mason being brought in as coaches. His opinion about the RB Dance Bites programme they inflicted on small regional theatres in the late 90s definitely mirrored my feelings about this extremely ill-judged venture. If the RB couldn't afford touring full length ballets (understandable, although ENB and BRB both with a fraction of the ROH Govt grant managed it) then at least they could tour one act ballets that are recognizably ballet. Instead, they chose to tour a rag bag selection of modern or experimental works that presumably they thought wasn't suitable for London audiences. In this case, why inflict them in areas unfamiliar with modern ballets and to whom the words 'Royal Ballet' are associated with classical ballet? No matter how much you advertised them as modern ballets, non-ballet going audiences will come expecting to see tutus and classical variations. You think the RB could have attracted a new audience if they had done a mixture of more traditional one act ballets and divertissements, instead of the sort of rubbish that Clement entitles 'Bad, bad, ballet'. I'm looking forward to continuing with the book. My only disappointment is whoever did the selections seemed to have ended about 2015 though Clement was writing until at least 2018. So, there seems to be no mention of Muntagirov or any other of the current young RB dancers (at least in the index).

I'm sorry I'm not seeing any new performances Erico Montes is in as like Dawnstar I always really liked him and looked out for him on stage. He always added a touch of class to whatever part he took, however small. I was disappointed he was never promoted, and the small roles he was usually given. Perhaps he'll come back for swan lake or Month in the Country when I might be able to see him.

Well yes, I suppose that is the traditional way of doing things, to do Lensky first and then Onegin. have any dancers ever started straight with Onegin? Lensky is a great role also, with pas de deux and that emotive, dramatic solo just before the duel. I'll settle for either but first we need Onegin to be staged (please, Kevin).