gottokeepworking Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I have been reading several postings about casting and Froum members buying tickets for a performance to see their favourite dancer(s) in a particular role. I can understand their disappointment when, due to injury, there is a cast change. I remember years ago being almost sick with excitement getting a ticket to see Jonathan Cope in one of his last performances at RB before his retirement and then for him to go and break his leg! I think we are very lucky here in the UK to know in advance who is dancing a role on a particular date. In my DS company (no name, no pack drill) he might get to know 10 days to a week in advance. The tickets go on sale at the beginning of the season for all performances seem to sell well despite not knowing. Please excuse my ignorance but can anything enlighten me as to whether announcing casting well in advance is the norm in other countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Dutch National Ballet usually post a few weeks before, likewise Paris Opera Ballet and Staatsballett Berlin. Not really much different to here with ENB and BRB. I feel that Royal Ballet and ABT are perhaps the only exceptions who cast months and months ahead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 American Ballet Theatre announces their spring New York season casting (may-July) the previous October, for most roles anyway. some remain TBA. Other N American companies usually announce casting 2-3 weeks before. New York City Ballet used to announce casting one week before, but they now do it 2 weeks before, mostly at the request of the dancers, as I understand it. The tradition was one week before because audiences were supposed to be interested in the choreography more than in any particular dancer. But hey, my feeling is, we pay the bucks for the tix, we should be allowed to have our preferences as to which dancer to see! The dancers themselves found out the casting at the same time as the audience, and as a result could never plan their life more than 7 days in advance, and the dancers' union asked for more lead time on the casting. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gottokeepworking Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 Thank you Don Q Fan. Ps. Just reread my posting - sorry about the spelling mistakes, finger trouble! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gottokeepworking Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 American Ballet Theatre announces their spring New York season casting (may-July) the previous October, for most roles anyway. some remain TBA. Other N American companies usually announce casting 2-3 weeks before. New York City Ballet used to announce casting one week before, but they now do it 2 weeks before, mostly at the request of the dancers, as I understand it. The tradition was one week before because audiences were supposed to be interested in the choreography more than in any particular dancer. But hey, my feeling is, we pay the bucks for the tix, we should be allowed to have our preferences as to which dancer to see! The dancers themselves found out the casting at the same time as the audience, and as a result could never plan their life more than 7 days in advance, and the dancers' union asked for more lead time on the casting. toursenlair - thank you. Couldn't agree with you more regarding paying the bucks for the tickets etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I spent a good deal of my later professional career in planning - often for events well over 12 months in the future. I accept that it has to be done and, indeed, without attempting to do so, many inter-related activities might be well-nigh impossible. But, that done, hard experience shows that the further ahead you plan, the more you'll have to change. In ballet and dance, fairly high-risk environments for those involved, I certainly would not want to devote significant cash on the basis of casting forecasts months ahead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 With those of us who are keen balletgoers, of course, we might want to ensure that we have tickets for the range of dancers we want to see, rather than, say, ending up with the same couple 3 times. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 I appreciate the difficulty, but I wish we could get back to having casting which includes more than just the two leads. The RB manages this with the Nutcracker now, which is great, but I would like to know in advance about, say, who will play Mercutio in R&J and Lescaut in Manon. Interestingly, the (albeit late) notice of casting for ENB's R&J covers many roles. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Yes, I really had expected the RB to have announced Mercutio and Tybalt at least, by now. Preferably Benvolio and Paris, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A frog Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 It seems the POB policy might be changing, the casting for La Bayadere this Christmas was announced before booking for individual tickets opened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Yes, I really had expected the RB to have announced Mercutio and Tybalt at least, by now. Preferably Benvolio and Paris, too. The RB Tybalts are now up but not the Mercutios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Interesting that they think he's more important than Mercutio. Shame that Gary Avis got such a small slice of the pie I've not seen Hirano do Tybalt before. Perhaps not the most obvious choice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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