Lack of Royal Ballet news (cast changes)

[ninamargaret]

Have just seen a response to a posting under 'News' on the ROH web site. A poster queried why there had been no mention on the site about cast changes in Mayerling. The reply is that they are notifying bookers about cast changes by email; for anyone else it's notification by cast change slips on the day of performance! Not even on the Facebook page! Not good enough, after all we've all booked for extra performances because of an interesting cast change - looks as though this will now be kept a secret unless forum members pick up information from dancers instagrams etc.

[Sim]

It just keeps getting worse...

[Lizbie1]

18 minutes ago, ninamargaret said:

Have just seen a response to a posting under 'News' on the ROH web site. A poster queried why there had been no mention on the site about cast changes in Mayerling. The reply is that they are notifying bookers about cast changes by email; for anyone else it's notification by cast change slips on the day of performance! Not even on the Facebook page! Not good enough, after all we've all booked for extra performances because of an interesting cast change - looks as though this will now be kept a secret unless forum members pick up information from dancers instagrams etc.

 

It's as if it hasn't occurred to them that people might book because of a cast change.

 

I've been trying to cut them some slack, but I begin to wonder whether the people making these decisions know anything about their customers, or indeed their product.

[alison]

1 hour ago, ninamargaret said:

Have just seen a response to a posting under 'News' on the ROH web site. A poster queried why there had been no mention on the site about cast changes in Mayerling. The reply is that they are notifying bookers about cast changes by email; for anyone else it's notification by cast change slips on the day of performance!

 

Cast change slips?  What cast change slips?  I certainly didn't see any there on Saturday announcing that Hirano was replacing Watson.  Hirano's name was fully on the cast sheet - unsurprisingly, as it wasn't last-minute - with no indication that Watson had ever been cast.  As I've said before, I find this grossly discourteous to both the replaced and the replacing dancer: firstly because the replaced one is just treated as if he/she never existed, and because it might be appropriate for the audience to know that the replacing dancer is a replacement, especially if he/she might not have had the ideal amount of time to rehearse with the rest of the cast prior to the performance.

[penelopesimpson]

It is baffling.  There were no cast change slips: the only news of Watson’s injury and subsequent substitution was a ticker tape runging across the bottom of the screen showing silent film from Carmen.  This is situated in the beige school room where visitors can hang their coats and attemp to get a drink.  I say attempt because a few hopefuls had wanted refreshment after the performance but cashing up took priority.  This sea of beige became a massive space of nobody doing anything.

 

How long before we don’t get cast lists at all because all dancers are the same in this wonderful new beige world.

 

i have one question:  Why?

[capybara]

Firstly they fail to acknowledge on the day major cast changes which have been announced online (the notes in the cast sheets disappeared during last season - so discourteous).

Then they fail to announce the changes online as well (even more discourteous to the dancers concerned).

Now they say you are only advised about cast changes if you have booked. I don't recall receiving any such e-mails. Are they sending me a message of some kind?

And, unless I check the not always up to date casting under each production, I have no way of being tempted to book because of a cast change. They are definitely trying to put me off coming to watch the RB.

Moreover, there is still no casting for Infra or Symphony in C. Putting The Company is a cop out and is discouraging multiple bookings. A message to the regulars?

 

I feel a letter to Kevin O'Hare coming on. The ROH people replying to posts etc. clearly don't have a clue.

[Sim]

It will no doubt be a very long letter, Capybara.   It's as if the ROH has handed over every aspect of running the place to a bunch of young marketeers who understand nothing about ballet, opera, tradition, history or audience.  The sad thing is that The Powers That Be in the ROH are lapping it up.  Perhaps even just sitting back and waiting for the money to roll in.   That's all it seems to be about these days.

[Sim]

And I noticed the same thing at Saturday's matinee....Matthew Ball was listed, but no mention that he was replacing Hirano.  Very discourteous to both dancers.....oh, and to the audience, some of whom wouldn't have been aware of the change.  Clearly not only are they trying to price the regulars out, they are trying to piss us off so much that we just stop going (and hey, the newbies wouldn't know anything different).  If the RB weren't in such a great place at the moment, this tactic would probably work on me.  I don't like the thought of paying to be treated with contempt.  

[zxDaveM]

38 minutes ago, Sim said:

The sad thing is that The Powers That Be in the ROH are lapping it up.  Perhaps even just sitting back and waiting for the money to roll in.   That's all it seems to be about these days.

 

if the emptiness of the bar seats outside the amphi bar restaurant (or lack of punters in the main part of the restaurant) are anything to go by, 'cash rolling in' isn't my first thought. With no overflow from the restaurant in evidence, not sure why they keep it roped off, unless its to keep it clean (through lack of use) for any VIP visit in the near future

[Josephine]

10 hours ago, capybara said:

Firstly they fail to acknowledge on the day major cast changes which have been announced online (the notes in the cast sheets disappeared during last season - so discourteous).

Then they fail to announce the changes online as well (even more discourteous to the dancers concerned).

Now they say you are only advised about cast changes if you have booked. I don't recall receiving any such e-mails. Are they sending me a message of some kind?

 

 

 

I did receive ROH email notification of Ed Watson's replacement by Ryoichi Hirano, and Ryoichi Hirano's replacement by Matthew Ball.

 

Perhaps they are doing this for 'central' principal roles only, as I received no email to confirm Tierney Heap's replacement by Lara Turk as Empress Elisabeth. Tierney Heap is still listed on the website to dance this role in forthcoming performances (perhaps she will?).

 

I agree with capybara and others that ROH's failure to publicise (both online and on cast sheets) accurate information about cast changes is incredibly disrespectful to the dancers.

 

I also liked to have the old style cast sheets showing any amendments as a permanent record of a specific performance, i.e. potential and actual.

[penelopesimpson]

10 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

 

if the emptiness of the bar seats outside the amphi bar restaurant (or lack of punters in the main part of the restaurant) are anything to go by, 'cash rolling in' isn't my first thought. With no overflow from the restaurant in evidence, not sure why they keep it roped off, unless its to keep it clean (through lack of use) for any VIP visit in the near future

My thoughts, exactly Dave.  I was there on Saturday night.  Level ????? Restaurant one third full, a couple of handfuls at the Bar.  Downstairs Hall much busier but I noticed the take-up of food was not high and Balcony Restaurant just over half full.

 

As somebody else has said, it is as if anyone connected with ballet has decided they don't want to have anything to do with the experience of ROH other than what happens on the stage.  The marketing people have not only taken over, they are doing a damned bad job.  All that pain to create that space downstairs - for what?  Nobody using it, became a sort 'lets fling my coat over the table' area.  

[penelopesimpson]

1 hour ago, Josephine said:

 

I did receive ROH email notification of Ed Watson's replacement by Ryoichi Hirano, and Ryoichi Hirano's replacement by Matthew Ball.

 

Perhaps they are doing this for 'central' principal roles only, as I received no email to confirm Tierney Heap's replacement by Lara Turk as Empress Elisabeth. Tierney Heap is still listed on the website to dance this role in forthcoming performances (perhaps she will?).

 

I agree with capybara and others that ROH's failure to publicise (both online and on cast sheets) accurate information about cast changes is incredibly disrespectful to the dancers.

 

I also liked to have the old style cast sheets showing any amendments as a permanent record of a specific performance, i.e. potential and actual.

Can this be one of may little economies that they think we won't notice?  The champagne and programme vouchers that you used to get when you booked a package have vanished and not mentioned.  Champagne £15 a glass but really expensive new glasses.  Now more than the Savoy.  Bread in the restaurants replaced with a solitary bread roll and butter is now a scraping.  Do they really think we punters don't notice these things?

[alison]

1 hour ago, Josephine said:

I also liked to have the old style cast sheets showing any amendments as a permanent record of a specific performance, i.e. potential and actual.

 

Exactly.  I've taken to marking them with "replacing xxx" anyway, in the same way that I do with cast-slip changes, but it's not the same  

[capybara]

11 hours ago, Sim said:

It will no doubt be a very long letter, Capybara. 

 

I'm afraid that it will be but Mr O'Hare is implicated here too!

[Esmeralda]

12 hours ago, capybara said:

Moreover, there is still no casting for Infra or Symphony in C. Putting The Company is a cop out and is discouraging multiple bookings. A message to the regulars?

 

 

 

 

Completely agree, Capybara! And we don´t even get a small hint who could be eventual casts, because the profiles of the dancers on the ROH page aren´t updated. The only infos we get is about some principal roles.

1 hour ago, Josephine said:

 

I did receive ROH email notification of Ed Watson's replacement by Ryoichi Hirano, and Ryoichi Hirano's replacement by Matthew Ball.

 

Perhaps they are doing this for 'central' principal roles only, as I received no email to confirm Tierney Heap's replacement by Lara Turk as Empress Elisabeth. Tierney Heap is still listed on the website to dance this role in forthcoming performances (perhaps she will?).

 

 

 

I also got an email notification about the replacements of Watson and Hirano, but maybe they only do it with e - tickets? But I think it has more to do with your second theory. I doubt that Tierney Heap will dance this role in this run, because she had an OP on her foot according to her IG account. As far as I know she is still not back at training, at least I interpret her posts like this.

[alison]

I guess email notifications go to anyone they have an email address for.  What happens for those who don't, I don't know: I doubt they get a phone call?

Edited October 16, 2018 by alison
To delete incorrect information

[Josephine]

20 minutes ago, Esmeralda said:

I also got an email notification about the replacements of Watson and Hirano, but maybe they only do it with e - tickets? But I think it has more to do with your second theory. I doubt that Tierney Heap will dance this role in this run, because she had an OP on her foot according to her IG account. As far as I know she is still not back at training, at least I interpret her posts like this.

 

Thank you Esmeralda for this. I am sorry to read this, and wish a very speedy recovery to Tierney Heap.

 

The email I received regarding cast changes related to paper tickets in this case. Also, in reply to Alison's post above, the email was sent in early afternoon on Wed 3 Oct, thus five days before the first night on Mon 8 Oct.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Josephine

[alison]

Thank you, Josephine.  I've edited out the incorrect information - I must have been reading the date on the wrong email   I did think it was a bit odd.

 

Wasn't Heap in class on World Ballet Day?  Or is the op of more recent date?

[Esmeralda]

10 minutes ago, alison said:

 

Wasn't Heap in class on World Ballet Day?  Or is the op of more recent date?

 

 

I am not completely sure if I have seen her on the World Ballet day, but her OP was around this day, maybe one or two days later. Unfortunately she posted this in her IG stories which disappear after 24 hours, so I can´t say the date exactly.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Esmeralda

[bangorballetboy]

53 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

Champagne £15 a glass but really expensive new glasses.  Now more than the Savoy.  

 

The cheapest glass of champers in the Savoy proper (American Bar, Kaspar's etc.) is £20 and it's a poorer champagne than Ruinart.  In the Savoy Grill (which is actually Gordon Ramsey), the cheapest champers is £15, but Ruinart (which is what you get at ROH) is £26 a glass.

[alison]

I've twice now tried to post responses on the ROH website, only to get an error message.  Combined with the error messages I've been getting in recent days in relation to attempts to book Mayerlings, I'm not sure whether the problem is at my end or the ROH's?  Actually, I'd guess it's the latter, because I also had the problem on a completely different machine and using someone else's Wi-Fi.

[Josephine]

2 hours ago, Esmeralda said:

 

I am not completely sure if I have seen her on the World Ballet day, but her OP was around this day, maybe one or two days later. Unfortunately she posted this in her IG stories which disappear after 24 hours, so I can´t say the date exactly.

 

Lara Turk is now shown as Empress Elisabeth on the Mayerling web page, in the casts which previously included Tierney Heap in this role. Maybe the ROH staff have been reading this thread!

[Saodan]

If the ROH staff are reading this: what about Bennet Gartside? He is listed on the website as dancing Bay Middleton with the Soares cast, but when I saw this cast on Friday it was Gary Avis.

 

This is very shoddy work for something as important as casting. Doesn't Equity require performers to be accurately credited?

Edited October 16, 2018 by Saodan

[alison]

I wondered that I hadn't seen Gartside so far, but had assumed that was down to my limited attendance.

[penelopesimpson]

4 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

The cheapest glass of champers in the Savoy proper (American Bar, Kaspar's etc.) is £20 and it's a poorer champagne than Ruinart.  In the Savoy Grill (which is actually Gordon Ramsey), the cheapest champers is £15, but Ruinart (which is what you get at ROH) is £26 a glass.

I obviously don't go in the 'proper' bit!  In fairness, you might mention that it is served by a waiter, on a tray, and with nuts and crisps rather than fighting your way to the bar and then drinking it standing up.

[bangorballetboy]

4 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

I obviously don't go in the 'proper' bit!  In fairness, you might mention that it is served by a waiter, on a tray, and with nuts and crisps rather than fighting your way to the bar and then drinking it standing up.

 

Sorry, but you're the one who said that champagne was cheaper in the Savoy than at the ROH (and by proper, I meant the rest of the hotel other than the Savoy Grill, which is a concession).  You were wrong, so maybe just admit it.

[penelopesimpson]

Oh Lord and Master of the Welsh VALLEYS.  I humbly beg your pardon for not being aware that the Grill was a concession.  I must try to get out more. Huge apologies to you and to all posters for my absolutely dreadful mistake which is clearly inexcusable.  I hang my head in  total shame.

 

Satisfied now?

 

You are brusque and unneccesarily discourteous as you always are to my posts.  Maybe just admit it.

[bangorballetboy]

11 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

Oh Lord and Master of the Welsh VALLEYS.  I humbly beg your pardon for not being aware that the Grill was a concession.  I must try to get out more. Huge apologies to you and to all posters for my absolutely dreadful mistake which is clearly inexcusable.  I hang my head in  total shame.

 

Satisfied now?

 

You are brusque and unneccesarily discourteous as you always are to my posts.  Maybe just admit it.

 

Maybe you do need to get out more if you think I’m Welsh.

 

If you think I am brusque and discourteous in response to your posts, it is simply because that’s the response that they deserve.

[jules_skichick]

hey bbb. Us ethnic minorities should definitely stick together but.   ...Welsh!! No!! AND since when is it OK to use someone else's heritage as an insult!!! Not impressed with PS.............

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, penelopesimpson said:

Oh Lord and Master of the Welsh VALLEYS.  . .  I hang my head in  total shame.

 

 

and so you should! 

BBB merely pointed out the correct pricing structure (stating facts with no vitriol that I could read). You then attacked with super sarky comments which seemed wholly unjustified. As for the 'Valleys' rebuke, as someone who DOES come from the Valleys, and not N Ireland (though the Welsh Bangor is in N Wales, the Valleys in the south - facts do seem a stranger to you!), I find this implied insult really offensive

 

[John Mallinson]

I think that's enough about the horrific price of a glass of champagne at the Savoy. Very informative, but back to ROH announcements (lack of) please.

 

[Mary]

Is this lack of announcements also happening in opera? I presume that if so the two worlds ( I know they overlap) will make common cause in lobbying on this issue  - and sometimes some of the opera lobby carry more weight (is my perception).

Apologies if I have missed something about this.

[ninamargaret]

I think cast changes in opera tend to be more spectacular - something like Kaufmann withdrawing  when everyone has paid megabucks to see him. And because ballets usually have several different casts and there are always chances of injuries etc. it is far more important for them to be notified properly. Any point in mass protests to KOH? The ballet audience is being treated pretty badly at the moment.