Royal Opera House "Our House To Your House" discussion thread

[Rob S]

17 minutes ago, Tony Newcombe said:

I received a hand written card of thanks from the Chief Executive of BRB

 

That's a lovely idea but I wouldn't want to think that donations, for example LinnMM's £150, were spent on postage for thank you cards 😆

Edited September 8, 2020 by Rob S

[Tony Newcombe]

1 hour ago, Rob S said:

 

That's a lovely idea but I wouldn't want to think that donations, for example LinnMM's £150, were spent on postage for thank you cards 😆

Oh dear. Sorry I mentioned it. Seems the Ballet companies can’t win

[Lizbie1]

1 hour ago, Rob S said:

 

That's a lovely idea but I wouldn't want to think that donations, for example LinnMM's £150, were spent on postage for thank you cards 😆

 

But my point was that this outlay generates more money as it makes people more inclined to donate again.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Lizbie1

[Dawnstar]

I had an email recently from the ROH thanking me for a donation. I have no idea whether they were referring to the ticket refunds partially I waived in April, or the ones ditto in June, or the renewal of Friends' membership in July. Whichever it was, it was a rather late thank you!

[bangorballetboy]

I didn’t donate any tickets but did make a separate donation and renewed my Friends membership in April.  I received a thank-you letter from KOH and a personal email thanking me for renewing.

[SheilaC]

I got an email thanking me for the donation- I preferred to give a financial donation so that it could be Gift aided. ENB also sent me an email. But BRB rang me and Vail Dance not only emailed me but sent me a letter. So ROH doesn't compare well.

[capybara]

12 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

I didn’t donate any tickets but did make a separate donation and renewed my Friends membership in April.  I received a thank-you letter from KOH and a personal email thanking me for renewing.

Goodness BBB! You must be one mighty significant donor 🤣 😉

[bangorballetboy]

3 minutes ago, capybara said:

Goodness BBB! You must be one mighty significant donor 🤣 😉

 

just a good friend!

[Scheherezade]

2 hours ago, capybara said:

Goodness BBB! You must be one mighty significant donor 🤣 😉

 

2 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

just a good friend!

 

Hmm. Why don't I have that kind of good friend?

[alison]

On 27/07/2020 at 20:24, Anna C said:

I missed Sleeping Beauty (a combination of spending my “ballet money” on two Onegins then being ill for the cinema relay) so was delighted to see this cast being streamed.  What a performance by Fumi Kaneko, especially standing in for Lauren Cuthbertson.  Fumi didn’t make me as ridiculously weepy as Yasmine Naghdi, who just IS Aurora and makes me cry almost from her first entrance, but she really was terrific all the same and I was absolutely thrilled for her.  

Bonelli really pulled out all the stops, his acting is always glorious but he danced beautifully too, with lovely lines, great stamina and good height to his allegro.  What a lovely, supportive, noble partner he is in the pdds.  I thought he and Fumi were lovely together. 

 

I loved the fairy variations and it was lovely to see Romany Pajdak being given a fairy as well as Red Riding Hood.  My only gripe, and it’s nothing personal, was giving a First Artist Lilac for a live stream.  I’ve seen Gina Storm-Jensen in the role before and she struggled with it technically as she did again this time - that’s not a deal breaker for me as even First Soloists can have off days and slips, especially in Sleeping Beauty, BUT if they have the stage presence and acting experience then it doesn’t matter too much.  Unfortunately, for me, Storm-Jensen doesn’t, especially when compared to Claire Calvert.  There was no power, no real presence, nothing to suggest that she could overcome Kristen McNally’s wonderfully evil Carabosse.  Lilac is a pivotal role and she needs to be played by someone who can stand out among all the other big characters onstage - not physically, necessarily, as I saw a young Nuñez play Lilac beautifully and she’s not statuesque by any means.  I really think that for cinema relays which could potentially be released as DVDs, Lilac needs to be a First Soloist or even Principal...

 

...speaking of which, Naghdi and Ball almost stole the show for me.  Utter perfection. 

 

While I was watching the re-streaming of this recently, I noticed a very vivid White Cat, and thought "Isn't that Ashley Dean?"  Yet when I looked on the end credits, it said Letitia Stock.  I found my cast list for the cinema showing the other day, and sure enough, I'd crossed out Stock and put Dean instead.  There were a number of other replacements among the cast, not only those caused by the late reallocation of the Lilac Fairy, so I hope there are no other inaccuracies on the credits.

[DanJL]

Well spotted! My experience of that run of Sleeping Beauty is that in the five performances I saw, Ashley Dean was the White cat every single time - though often as a replacement for the original person cast. And she was certainly recognisable in the filmed performance. I hadn't noticed the discrepancy in the credits though.

[alison]

On 18/04/2020 at 17:34, LinMM said:

It’s a very long time since I’ve read this Kafka tale ....as a student circa 1968-9 ...but seeing this last night has inspired me to want to read it again ....and maybe even watch it again if have a week to recover that is.. ...I think it’s on ROH website till end of April but will check. But definitely worth catching if you have never seen this ballet ...or to be reminded of how just amazing Ed Watson and this piece is. 

 

 

Bumping this, because I've just discovered that there are a whole load of Kafka-related events going on in Oxford this year as part of the centenary of his death:

 

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-03-04-oxford-kafka-2024