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I am undecided about whether or not to go to this next month. There are some good seats remaining for the Sat mat and I am tempted due to the opportunity to see Zenaida Yanowsky. And yet... while I have liked some of his work,I am not a huge fan of Wheeldon and I fear a whole afternoon might be too lacking in variety. For me anyway. There seem to be quite a lot of tickets left in general. Of course the decision to go or not to go is down to me. I just wondered if anyone could give their opinion of what's on offer? 

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I'm not keen on the 'Strapless' title. One article of clothing immediately springs to mind.

 

 

Strapless refers to John Singer Sargent's painting of Madame X which caused such controversy when first exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1884. Her dress lacked a shoulder strap on one side (as in the Tate's study for the painting). He later painted the strap in.

 

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Strapless refers to John Singer Sargent's painting of Madame X which caused such controversy when first exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1884. Her dress lacked a shoulder strap on one side (as in the Tate's study for the painting). He later painted the strap in.

Was about to mention mot only that but that it also refers to the Deborah Davis book of the same title on the subject of Sargent's painting,

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I'm going on the 16th. I saw Yuan Yuan Tan and Damien Smith (San Francisco Ballet) dance the pas de deux from After the Rain a couple of years ago and really liked it.  So I'm looking forward to seeing the complete ballet (and of course the PDD again!)

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What a gorgeous painting!

 

I'm going to the matinee on 13th Feb.  I like the couple of short Wheeldon pieces I have seen and want to see some more.

I'm going on 13 mat too. I've really enjoyed Wheeldon's abstract work and think it could be a usually and choreographicallh rich afternoon .

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A triple bill worth seeing I think- I seem to recall After the Rain as a moving and effective piece; Golden Hour has good music and from the clips on youtube I liked the look of  that too. . I am intrigued by the new piece based on the Sargent painting-  Definitely worth going.

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As always, thank you for the comments. I am still dithering over this one. If only somebody else would buy the seat I am eyeing up, the problem would be solved!

Strapless does sound intriguing and having looked at the portrait of Madame X, I can see why Wheeldon has cast Lauren Cuthbertson, as there is to my eyes, a likeness between the two women at least in profile.

Getting to London next month is a bit of a logistical problem for me, so I might just hold back until the May/June triple, in which Golden Hour gets a re-run alongside MacMillan and new McGregor. 

Edited by Jacqueline
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  • 4 weeks later...

The Times Review today has an interesting looking article about Christopher Wheeldon and the new work, and the running times are on the ROH website as 24m, 50m and 35m, overall 2hr.52m, in other words 3 hours, my E-mail also advised that getting out of the theatre will be a bit tight near the cloakroom!

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So, that sounds like a whole hour of intervals.

 

The times have changed a little bit today, the first ballet is 30m followed by a 30m interval, second interval 25m, finish time 10.20pm.

 

Getting out of the theatre will be a bigger problem in June when the revolving doors are shut and everyone has to use the old entrance,  the E-mail for now says please use all available fire exits, so perhaps some of the old side exits from the amphi will re-open. Thank heavens I only buy aisle seats and can dash out.

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Me too - pity as I was hoping for another offer for cheaper prices.  The main thing preventing me from booking earlier was that nearly all the recent new works I have seen have been either plotless or pessimistic.  Strapless doesn't sound too upbeat (I believe the subject of the painting suffered social death) and I know nothing about the others.  Are they also about depressing subjects?  I go to the ballet for enjoyment - I get all the suffering I can take simply watching the news.

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There's a nice picture and article on ROH Twitter about Strapless today, could be a wonderful evocation of the Parisian art world of 1884, the other 2 ballets are abstract although After The Rain is quite sad, from what I remember after seeing Within the Golden Hour only once at SW it's a really beautiful abstract ballet with 3 fabulous pdd, great casts too!

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I'm amazed: 5 of the 7 performances are currently showing as sold out! I never expected that that many people would be interested in an all-Wheeldon triple bill.

 

Perhaps people coming back for more after seeing 'Alice' and/or 'Winters Tale'

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I'm guessing the popularity of the bill has a lot to do with how little there is left in the season that would appeal to a more casual audience (Giselle is already sold out), the performances sold out are weekend ones and/or have Osipova dancing, that will also help sell tickets.

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And yet, Winter's Tale still has many tickets for sale. I notice that the highest price tickets are £117. Of course, there's still plenty of time for the tickets to sell but the prices seem on the high side to me. I'm inclined to give it a miss this time. I would probably have gone if the two casts from the first run had been mixed up so that the second cast Florizel and Perdita had been paired with the first cast Leontes and Hermione.

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And yet, Winter's Tale still has many tickets for sale. I notice that the highest price tickets are £117. Of course, there's still plenty of time for the tickets to sell but the prices seem on the high side to me. I'm inclined to give it a miss this time. I would probably have gone if the two casts from the first run had been mixed up so that the second cast Florizel and Perdita had been paired with the first cast Leontes and Hermione.

You could always try the third cast

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Winter's Tale made it to bbc tv, maybe whether they liked it or not, audiences are less inclined to see it as a result? At least the triple bill has one world premiere and two works new to the RB. If I was a bigger fan of Wheeldon I'd be extremely excited.

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If the regular ballet goer is still undecided  about going to see the Winter's Tale why would you expect the occasional ballet goer to have rushed out to buy tickets? it would appear that the only ballets which really enjoy name recognition are Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. Nutcracker sells  just as much because it is the Christmas show as it does for the quality of its music, staging and choreography.

 

However enthusiastic the reception may have been for this ballet 2014 was a long time ago  as far as the non specialist audience is concerned. You and I may have tickets for months ahead, we may even have tickets for arts events in 2017, but as far as the occasional ballet goer is concerned May is still a long way off  and they have probably forgotten all about its successful premiere in 2014. Perhaps one of the reasons for the articles about young dancers which are beginning to appear at regular intervals is as much to. increase public awareness of the existence of the dancers and company  as it is  to encourage ticket sales for any individual ballet.

Edited by FLOSS
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And thanks for the reminder that it's not at 1130 as stated on my ticket!

Indeed! Back in October (rather long ago and not repeated since, or not that I have noticed) ROH sent this out:-

 

>>After the Rain / new Christopher Wheeldon / Within the Golden Hour will now start at 12.30pm instead of 11.30am on Thursday 11 February 2016. Due to new lighting designs for After the Rain and Within the Golden Hour, extra technical time is required.

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