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Johan Kobborg brings his Romeo and Juliet to RAH - now rescheduled to 1st December 2021


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12 hours ago, annamicro said:

Thanks everybody for the suggestions 🙂

Anyway if I will not be attending to the show I'd love to go outside London: I've been in London more than 100 times but usually busy in the evening, having shows to attend to.

Thanks the outrageous ticket pricing for this show, this time maybe I could finally visit Oxford or Cambridge...

Or Windsor for a half-day visit, just under an hour from Waterloo by train to Windsor and Eton Riverside or via Slough from Paddington to Windsor Central.  The Castle, The Great Park and river trips through pretty countryside all a nice way to spend some time. 

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8 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

The “odd” prices include the booking fee, which you wouldn’t have paid as you were booking at the box office.  The tickets being sent by post is an anti-tout measure.

 

You'd think the box office person could have explained this to Amelia, wouldn't you?

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Regarding ticket prices.  Two thoughts ....

 

1). This is low compared to music concerts of worldwide music stars ... For example Adele, Pink, Bon Jovi etc  ... way over £100 to sit in the gods and miles away from the stage at venues like Wembley, O2.  Where even on the big screens the stars are still ant sized!!!!

 

2). I’ve always wondered how much more expensive would ROH seats have to be if they didn’t have the government subsidy and huge donations from their substantial base of patrons/friends etc.   I do admire how PoluninInk team can produce quality shows ... and commission new choreography, new music, new costumes etc without this same financial support.  
 

Perhaps PoluninInk prices are the ‘real’ cost of ballet ?

 

Although I’m assuming even Sergei gets donations from patrons, even if they are anonymous for now.

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19 hours ago, Irmgard said:

Apologies - I missed the fact that the front row is even more expensive!  You would have a very good view of their feet for £250!!   

 
£250 front row seats are sold out.  
 

Much of the arena and stalls seats are already sold at £80 - £162 in just 24 hours.  But then it is only 1 performance.  

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3 hours ago, bridiem said:

You'd think the box office person could have explained this to Amelia, wouldn't you?


Up to now I came across only fixed booking fees: Sadler's Wells - £3; RFH - £3.50; Coliseum - range from £1.80 to £2.25. On the Royal Albert Hall’s website they explain that their Booking Fee is 7.5% of the total transaction value. Useful to know.
I was still curious about the inability of their printer to print tickets while the receipts were printed perfectly well. Made a phone call to the box office and got an explanation: “We still don’t know how the R & J tickets will look. When we get the design, the tickets will be printed."

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I have swallowed hard and paid quite a high price as a sort of expression of support. I want to see Alina dance more than is proving possible within ENB, also this production and, since it is an independent endeavour ......................

The £250 tickets in the front row are VIP tickets (i.e. part of a package) even though they may have a very restricted view. I wasn't tempted but I shall probably be needing my ornithological binoculars to see much of the intimate action from where I'm sitting.

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17 hours ago, FionaE said:

Regarding ticket prices.  Two thoughts ....

 

1). This is low compared to music concerts of worldwide music stars ... For example Adele, Pink, Bon Jovi etc  ... way over £100 to sit in the gods and miles away from the stage at venues like Wembley, O2.  Where even on the big screens the stars are still ant sized!!!!

 

2). I’ve always wondered how much more expensive would ROH seats have to be if they didn’t have the government subsidy and huge donations from their substantial base of patrons/friends etc.   I do admire how PoluninInk team can produce quality shows ... and commission new choreography, new music, new costumes etc without this same financial support.  
 

Perhaps PoluninInk prices are the ‘real’ cost of ballet ?

 

Although I’m assuming even Sergei gets donations from patrons, even if they are anonymous for now.


I am assuming the Albert Hall show will be recorded music.  As it was in Verona.  It has special overlays of church bells.

 

So even these prices for R&J are not the ‘real’ cost that it would be with live orchestra.  I’ve read that PoluninInk team gave up on live musicians some time ago due to the prohibitive cost. 

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5 hours ago, bridiem said:

Perhaps Kobborg could interest a major company in the production, so that it can effectively be subsidised and so seen by more people and at an affordable cost.

 

I think this would be good.  I mean obviously he needs to charge what will cover his costs.  That said, the tickets for this are quite expensive especially those with a good view.  For the same price one could get 2 tickets for something at Sadlers Wells.  London is somewhere with a lot of wonderful and different dance events on and most people have a limited budget for entertainments (I certainly do).  Accordingly some of the prices here are going to put people off.  It's up to the organiser I think to decide the balance between charging what he needs to cover his costs and charging something people are willing to pay.

 

For me on this occasion, I think I'll pass because to have a good view would cost more than I am able to spend on a single event when there is so much else I want to see. 

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I read an article about the Bolshoi which said only 25% of costs are covered by ticket prices.  Which means one would expect the ‘real’ cost of ballet and opera to be 4 times what Bolshoi attendees are paying.  Assuming the main big opera/ballets theatres are similarly priced, we are all getting HUGE subsidies at ROH etc.   Enjoy it while you can!  

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On 08/02/2020 at 13:24, Tango Dancer said:

It's up to the organiser I think to decide the balance between charging what he needs to cover his costs and charging something people are willing to pay.


And that would work how?  An organiser is not going to put on a show that doesn’t cover their costs!  To state the obvious. 


Unless they can get sponsorship to subsidise the difference.  (Eg. Hochhauser)
 

 

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40 minutes ago, FionaE said:


And that would work how?  An organiser is not going to put on a show that doesn’t cover their costs!  To state the obvious. 


Unless they can get sponsorship to subsidise the difference.  (Eg. Hochhauser)
 

 

 

Perhaps I was unclear.  I mean he needs to charge enough to cover his costs but not elevate them so much beyond the cost of doing business that it will mean that people can't or won't attend.  Obviously he needs to cover the cost of running the show but it's no good covering the cost of running the show if the tickets cost so much that people don't want to buy them.  I discussed this show with a few people from ballet class today and some of us thought the prices were on the high side so decided not to attend. 

 

I'm sure the organiser has calculated what people are willing to pay and priced it accordingly, but that does mean some people rule themselves out.  As long as there are enough people who are willing to pay the prices (and there appear to be), then all is well for everyone.     

 

I think personally it would have been better if they could have got sponsorship to allow them to offer some cheaper tickets.

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52 minutes ago, FionaE said:

I read an article about the Bolshoi which said only 25% of costs are covered by ticket prices.  Which means one would expect the ‘real’ cost of ballet and opera to be 4 times what Bolshoi attendees are paying.  Assuming the main big opera/ballets theatres are similarly priced, we are all getting HUGE subsidies at ROH etc.   Enjoy it while you can!  

 

ROH's most recently published annual report breaks down its income for 2018 as:

 

33% ticket sales

18% public subsidy (ACE etc)

21% "commercial and other" (presumably shops, catering and DVDs etc)

23% fundraising

4% Open Up fundraising

1% investment income

 

Which is a pretty low rate of public subsidy by European standards. I'd expect ENB to receive a higher percentage.

 

One question is: how much of that ACE grant effectively goes straight out of the door again in activities designed to please ACE?

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On 08/02/2020 at 08:58, bridiem said:

Perhaps Kobborg could interest a major company in the production, so that it can effectively be subsidised and so seen by more people and at an affordable cost.

 

It was commisioned by Polunin so I don't think this could be possible.

 

It's a small production, with a cast of 23 and recorded music and lasting just 1 hr 20 min without interval, that would suit better to a theatre: the loss of details in the artistic performance of an actress as Alina Cojocaru is not compensated by a huge corps and a huge set to move. It makes no sense to watch this production from the top of the theatre.

I hope that the ones attending for the first time would not be disapponted feeling short changed: many ideas of Kobborg are very interesting and Cojocaru and Gaifullin were superb in Verona. I really enjoyed the performance and I'd have loved to see it again, but definitely not at these prices, having already satisfied the "curiosity" drive.

 

The comparison with pop concerts doesn't make sense because one can hear even better form above, and the value of the concert is to share the experience and sing all toghether. I don't expect people trying to dance the pdd on the rausing cicle. 😁

 

Polunin said many time that he wants to make shows in big spaces with thousands of people. Clearly what they would see is not relevant to him.

The strong impression that the producer wants to make the most money possible with the smallest effort is maybe wrong but gives a sad bittertaste to everyhing here.

Let's try to find something good in this choice: form the peaks of RAH the head of Putin popping out form Polunin shirt should not be visible... (I am waiting now a post to claim that that head is cute and suits to the role 😄 )

Edited by annamicro
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1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

ROH's most recently published annual report breaks down its income for 2018 as:

 

33% ticket sales

18% public subsidy (ACE etc)

21% "commercial and other" (presumably shops, catering and DVDs etc)

23% fundraising

4% Open Up fundraising

1% investment income

 

Which is a pretty low rate of public subsidy by European standards. I'd expect ENB to receive a higher percentage.

 

One question is: how much of that ACE grant effectively goes straight out of the door again in activities designed to please ACE?

 

However, where performances are concerned, isn't the RAH  largely a 'host' building which companies and other promoters pay to use? The T&Cs of hire presumably include a percentage of the takings.

 

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6 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

However, where performances are concerned, isn't the RAH  largely a 'host' building which companies and other promoters pay to use? The T&Cs of hire presumably include a percentage of the takings.

 

 

Royal Opera House, not the Royal Albert Hall - FionaE mentioned them in the post I was responding to.

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3 hours ago, FionaE said:


And that would work how?  An organiser is not going to put on a show that doesn’t cover their costs!  To state the obvious. 


Unless they can get sponsorship to subsidise the difference.  (Eg. Hochhauser)
 

 

 

Mention of the Hochhausers (who are promoters, not sponsors) reminds me: if we're talking about the "true cost" of ballet, the Bolshoi and Mariinsky London seasons aren't a bad place to start to make a comparison. I think Lillian Hochhauser has said that they don't attract much sponsorship and the Hochhausers don't make much money out of it; and the ticket prices cover a large corps and full orchestra and the costs of bringing the production over and accommodating everyone fof the three weeks.

 

(I don't know what rank and file dancers and players earn in Russia - presumably less than at the RB, but then accommodation and transport costs would be on top of that.)

 

I guess what I'm saying in a roundabout way is that you can see a lot more performers for a bit less money (bearing in mind those Hochhauser seasons are about the top end of what we're used to here) when the Bolshoi or Mariinsky visit, and that's more-or-less unsubsidised. There are production costs to factor in of course - I've no idea what they came to with this Romeo and Juliet - maybe it's a lavish set?

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Back to ballet itself .....

 

I’m intrigued that Alina and Sergei have performed together in Marguerite & Armand (with Johan as Armand’s father) in Alina’s Dream Project performances in Japan.  Their performances have gone down well, but more interesting to me is the growth in their dramatic partnership. It should make for an even better performance at the Albert Hall.   I believe the Verona R&J may have been their first dramatic partnership? 

 

I wonder if anyone here has better history on their dancing together?  
 

From ROHcollections I see they danced Cinderella together 3 times in 2011 at ROH, a pdd from Sleeping Beauty at a gala in 2011, and Les Lutins in Cuba in 2009 and later in Russia also.  But none of these are dramatic roles.  
 

 

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4 minutes ago, capybara said:

I think that Alina and Sergei were rehearsing The Dream at the point , early in 2012, when Sergei decided to leave The Royal Ballet. But I was in India when the news came through so my recollection might be a bit shaky.

 

we posted at the same time: yes, he left from that studio to go directly to the office to resign. The resignation was announced almost real time by the Royal Ballet. Sergei danced in Alinas Galas in Japan one month later, as I wrote. We could ask many questions about what happened and why, but I think we would need another thread and probaly have already had more than one 🙂

 

Edited by annamicro
edited several times fot typos, forgive the remaining (i am the same in Italian :-D)
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