Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker, Winter 2022/3

[Fiz]

That makes sense with the general lack of money everywhere and particularly in the Arts. 

[emmarose]

This is slightly off topic, but on Wednesday I found myself longing for those post COVID days where people were masked, or stayed home when ill, because the audience were particularly noisy with their constant coughing. It made me realise how when we were coming out after COVID there was barely ever a cough and could just purely enjoy the orchestra. 

[Dawnstar]

I didn't find Wednesday's performance too bad coughing-wise where I was sat but on Tuesday there was a woman near me who coughed repeatedly during Act I & most of Act II before finally leaving just after the Sugar Plum Fairy's solo.

[emmarose]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

I didn't find Wednesday's performance too bad coughing-wise where I was sat but on Tuesday there was a woman near me who coughed repeatedly during Act I & most of Act II before finally leaving just after the Sugar Plum Fairy's solo.

 

I did find it quite distracting at times, it seemed worse in the first act, but it was a steady noise of coughing. At one point not a full bar of the score could pass without another cough! 

[Mary]

Were you in the amphi? I was and the coughing was very annoying indeed in Act 1 -apparently no attempt was being made to muffle it..very anti-social.

 

[MJW]

Just got back from a rather wintry encore screening of The Nutcracker (snow on the walk back and the boiler had packed-up at the arts centre where it was being screened). Nevertheless a lovely Sunday afternoon and always interesting to see everything close-up compared to seeing it live at Covent Garden.

 

What a beautiful partnership of William Bracewell and Fumi Kaneko - looking forward to seeing them again next year in The Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

Edited December 11, 2022 by MJW

[bridiem]

Have also just seen the encore screening - really enjoyed it. Sae Maeda was a lovely Clara and Joseph Sissens a lively and engaged Hans Peter. Fumi Kaneko was an absolutely dazzling Sugar Plum Fairy - the speed of her fouettés! - and William Bracewell a wonderfully gracious and other-worldly Prince. Brilliant.

[art_enthusiast]

5 hours ago, emmarose said:

This is slightly off topic, but on Wednesday I found myself longing for those post COVID days where people were masked, or stayed home when ill, because the audience were particularly noisy with their constant coughing. It made me realise how when we were coming out after COVID there was barely ever a cough and could just purely enjoy the orchestra. 

I do find it quite vile, especially when it’s really loud, throaty coughing, it’s very annoying in operas as well.
When I had a bad cough a few weeks ago I stayed away out of deference to other paying audience members, despite missing two highly anticipated Mayerling performances.

I have no desire to spread germs and create a noise disturbance - it’s annoying when others can’t extend the same courtesy, wearing a mask at the very least! Have they learned nothing from the last two years?!

Would have put this in the audience behaviour thread but it’s locked I believe. 

[art_enthusiast]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

there was a woman near me who coughed repeatedly during Act I & most of Act II before finally leaving just after the Sugar Plum Fairy's solo.

Well thankfully they left before the final PDD!

[emmarose]

1 hour ago, Mary said:

Were you in the amphi? I was and the coughing was very annoying indeed in Act 1 -apparently no attempt was being made to muffle it..very anti-social.

 

No, I was in the stalls circle, but I think it was echoing around.

Like you said no attempt to muffle it, it seemed people were actively choosing to cough loudly. I don't know if I'm noticing it more because I really didn't want to catch it before Christmas and it's really so different because there was a point where there was no coughing due to people staying home when ill.

[Linnzi5]

5 hours ago, Mary said:

Were you in the amphi? I was and the coughing was very annoying indeed in Act 1 -apparently no attempt was being made to muffle it..very anti-social.

 

I was in the stalls on Thursday evening and two people nearby kept coughing. One woman had the most dreadful cough - sounded like bronchitis. I did find it irritating and felt like going and giving her my unopened bottle of mineral water. She wasn't that near to me, but it echoed. She made no attempt to disguise her cough. I always take a bottle of water in with me in case I get a tickle in my throat. I question whether the lady who had the bad cough should have attended, especially as she coughed in all the quieter bits! It really sounded awful!

[Scheherezade]

10 hours ago, Mary said:

Were you in the amphi? I was and the coughing was very annoying indeed in Act 1 -apparently no attempt was being made to muffle it..very anti-social.

 

I was in the amphi and the non- stop cougher was sitting right behind me. And, yes, she made no attempt to muffle the cough or, indeed, to cover her mouth. It got so bad that my daughter had to move to an unoccupied seat with a more restricted view as the woman responsible was coughing right into her hair.
At one point, someone nearby turned, glared and pointedly put on a mask. As I didn’t have a mask, I had to make do with covering my nose and mouth with my hands as what sounded remarkably like a Covid cough carried on relentlessly.
Why anyone in that state of health would even want to go out is beyond me, leaving aside the utter selfishness of exposing everyone in the vicinity to their germs. And to add insult to injury, she returned after the interval to take up exactly where she had left off. Just staggering!

[emmarose]

4 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

I was in the amphi and the non- stop cougher was sitting right behind me. And, yes, she made no attempt to muffle the cough or, indeed, to cover her mouth. It got so bad that my daughter had to move to an unoccupied seat with a more restricted view as the woman responsible was coughing right into her hair.
At one point, someone nearby turned, glared and pointedly put on a mask. As I didn’t have a mask, I had to make do with covering my nose and mouth with my hands as what sounded remarkably like a Covid cough carried on relentlessly.
Why anyone in that state of health would even want to go out is beyond me, leaving aside the utter selfishness of exposing everyone in the vicinity to their germs. And to add insult to injury, she returned after the interval to take up exactly where she had left off. Just staggering!

 

This is such awful behaviour, who wouldn't attempt to cover their mouth? Have we learnt nothing from the pandemic? How awful. Who coughs on other people? Disgusting.

I have to say I wear a mask inside the theatre, it's so crowded and I really don't want to get COVID, so I'm masked, one of the only ones but I don't care. 

If you're that ill you shouldn't be out spreading your germs and you certainly shouldn't be in a theatre ruining the performance for others. 

[Sim]

4 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

I was in the amphi and the non- stop cougher was sitting right behind me. And, yes, she made no attempt to muffle the cough or, indeed, to cover her mouth. It got so bad that my daughter had to move to an unoccupied seat with a more restricted view as the woman responsible was coughing right into her hair.
At one point, someone nearby turned, glared and pointedly put on a mask. As I didn’t have a mask, I had to make do with covering my nose and mouth with my hands as what sounded remarkably like a Covid cough carried on relentlessly.
Why anyone in that state of health would even want to go out is beyond me, leaving aside the utter selfishness of exposing everyone in the vicinity to their germs. And to add insult to injury, she returned after the interval to take up exactly where she had left off. Just staggering!

Didn’t anyone say anything to her?  I certainly would have.  How awful and inconsiderate.  

[LinMM]

Obviously not covering mouth when coughing is one thing and pretty unforgivable given the situation…..but I do have sympathy if the coughing attack erupts once in the theatre.. as often having a bit of a lingering cough does not mean you are really ill and should be tucked up in bed at home. 
However if it can’t be brought under control it is polite to remove yourself after the interval. 
This has fortunately only happened ONCE to me in all my theatre going and was at Sadlers Wells watching a Northern Ballet performance about five years ago. 
I had had a cold the previous week but was over it so not ill but with a bit of a residue cough which was intermittent so not all the time. 
About 15 mins into the performance I had a coughing fit and immediately started drinking water and then in my efforts to suppress it nearly choked to death on the water 😳!!  It was hugely unpleasant and I just couldn’t stop the coughing for quite a while…and couldn’t leave because I was slap bang in the middle of a row so would have disturbed about 15 people either way 🙄

In the interval I went to see the usher and she was very sympathetic and found me a seat a bit further back but on the end of a row so I could exit quickly if need be. Of course not a single cough erupted in the second half!! 
Now….especially when booking Sadlers Wells …which has such long rows …I won’t go unless I am in an end of row seat or within 3 seats of an end of row even though this has never happened again since. 
Is there still somewhere you can go and watch what’s happening on stage at ROH? I thought there used to be a tv on in the Crush Room? This was more for latecomers before they could be admitted? I haven’t been up there for so long I don’t know if that’s still true….or whether it would run for the whole performance. If so then that’s some consolation if you’ve travelled a long way to see a show and could be your only chance to see it …as you could then retreat there if overcome by a coughing fit and console with a drink whilst watching the remainder of show on the tv at least!! 

 

[emmarose]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

Didn’t anyone say anything to her?  I certainly would have.  How awful and inconsiderate.  

 

I know I would have too. I would ask to be moved in the interval too, there's no excuse for this kind of behaviour from anyone.

[DVDfan]

This is why I would never, ever go to a live ballet performance.

 

Mods, can we have a new audience behaviour thread, please? I want to come here and read about the performers and the production, not the audience.

[emmarose]

5 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Obviously not covering mouth when coughing is one thing and pretty unforgivable given the situation…..but I do have sympathy if the coughing attack erupts once in the theatre.. as often having a bit of a lingering cough does not mean you are really ill and should be tucked up in bed at home. 
However if it can’t be brought under control it is polite to remove yourself after the interval. 
This has fortunately only happened ONCE to me in all my theatre going and was at Sadlers Wells watching a Northern Ballet performance about five years ago. 
I had had a cold the previous week but was over it so not ill but with a bit of a residue cough which was intermittent so not all the time. 
About 15 mins into the performance I had a coughing fit and immediately started drinking water and then in my efforts to suppress it nearly choked to death on the water 😳!!  It was hugely unpleasant and I just couldn’t stop the coughing for quite a while…and couldn’t leave because I was slap bang in the middle of a row so would have disturbed about 15 people either way 🙄

In the interval I went to see the usher and she was very sympathetic and found me a seat a bit further back but on the end of a row so I could exit quickly if need be. Of course not a single cough erupted in the second half!! 
Now….especially when booking Sadlers Wells …which has such long rows …I won’t go unless I am in an end of row seat or within 3 seats of an end of row even though this has never happened again since. 
Is there still somewhere you can go and watch what’s happening on stage at ROH? I thought there used to be a tv on in the Crush Room? This was more for latecomers before they could be admitted? I haven’t been up there for so long I don’t know if that’s still true….or whether it would run for the whole performance. If so then that’s some consolation if you’ve travelled a long way to see a show and could be your only chance to see it …as you could then retreat there if overcome by a coughing fit and console with a drink whilst watching the remainder of show on the tv at least!! 

 

 

Maybe not tucked up in bed, but if I knew I had a lingering cough I would never go to the theatre because it's not fair to others to inflict my coughing on the audience and performers.

People pay to hear the orchestra, they do not pay to hear me hacking up my lungs, if I knew I would be coughing throughout the 3 hours I would not go.

[alison]

I'm sure the staff would put the TV back on in the Crush Room or outside the Amphitheatre if asked.  Better than nothing.  I did it once when I got an awful post-cold cough during Winter Dreams, but fortunately I'd been in Balcony standing at the time so it was easy to make an exit.

 

And yes, it would be nice to get back to the subject of the thread, please  We do have an Audience Behaviour thread elsewhere.

[LinMM]

I think somebody said that the Behaviour Thread was locked? 

[art_enthusiast]

4 hours ago, alison said:

We do have an Audience Behaviour thread elsewhere.

 

That thread is locked at the moment.

[LinMM]

Maybe there could be a new thread called “Audience Theatricals” 

[FionaM]

Returning to the cinema performance, I was a bit disappointed with William Bracewell’s Prince (I probably had my expectations unrealistically ramped up by Darcey’s glowing intro).  He couldn’t get fully round on any of the double saut de basques.  Everything looks too staged and careful and unspontaneous for me. 

 

Fumi sparkled throughout with a fun twinkle in her eyes.  She has a super technique and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a RB ballerina with a controlled and high développé à la seconde like she has 👏👏👏

(when she runs to her partner and has her back to the audience).

 

Fabulous supported spiralling legs from Joonhyuk Jun in the Chinese dance.   I notice Taisuke Nakao’s back wasn’t as low which may have restricted the height of his spirals.

Edited December 13, 2022 by FionaE
Typos

[Finnbarr]

Hello, RB experts

 

can anyone tell me who it is who plays the delightful old retainer who features in the Christmas party in The Nutcracker, wandering around with a candelabra as everyone goes to bed ? He has been in all the performances I have seen and I think he is a great comic actor. Is he an ex- dancer? 

[Legseleven]

What happens with the Royal Ballet School students who are appearing in The Nutcracker (is that all of them?) now that they have finished the school term? Do they stay on at school if needed to get to performances - especially in this wintry weather? Do students who live abroad or a long way from London miss out on being cast for further performances! 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Legseleven

[RobR]

59 minutes ago, Legseleven said:

What happens with the Royal Ballet School students who are appearing in The Nutcracker (is that all of them?) now that they have finished the school term? Do they stay on at school if needed to get to performances - especially in this wintry weather? Do students who live abroad or a long way from London miss out on being cast for further performances! 

Yes, the children who dance; soldiers, mice and party children, remain in White Lodge until the final performance just before Christmas and return in time for the post Christmas performances. 
 

Until about 10-15 years ago (can’t remember exactly) they were supposed to return in time for performances on 26/27 December but the parents rebelled and the RB sensibly changed the schedule.

 

The Upper School children, who dance as snowflakes and angels, remain in their school accommodation. 
 

[AllAboutTheJourney]

8 hours ago, Legseleven said:

What happens with the Royal Ballet School students who are appearing in The Nutcracker (is that all of them?) now that they have finished the school term? Do they stay on at school if needed to get to performances - especially in this wintry weather? Do students who live abroad or a long way from London miss out on being cast for further performances! 

They are staying closer to the theatre now that term has ended but yes, they still have the option to board. 

 

There are two teams and the team of children who live closer to London do the performances closest to Christmas Day so that the other team can travel home for a decent period of time. 

[RobR]

5 minutes ago, AllAboutTheJourney said:

They …..

 

….There are two teams and the team of children who live closer to London do the performances closest to Christmas Day so that the other team can travel home for a decent period of time. 

Yes, I’d forgotten that but, living in London, we were in the ‘last to leave, first to return’ group 😀

[Tango Dancer]

9 hours ago, Finnbarr said:

Hello, RB experts

 

can anyone tell me who it is who plays the delightful old retainer who features in the Christmas party in The Nutcracker, wandering around with a candelabra as everyone goes to bed ? He has been in all the performances I have seen and I think he is a great comic actor. Is he an ex- dancer? 

 

I know who you mean and was wondering that too.  I thought it might be Christopher Carr (guest principal ballet master at the RB who does a lot of the staging) as it sort of looks a bit like him, but I may be completely wrong.  I'd like to know as well.  

[JohnS]

I caught the Nutcracker encore at Reghed, Penrith, with its 60 foot wide screen. Very enjoyable as many posters have said. I do think Sae Maeda needed to make more of finding she still had the pendant from the Sugar Plum Fairy. She’d touched it but when hidden under Hans Peter’s cloak and then looked down to it when opening the cloak. Much better to show the audience, both in the theatre and cinema, that she has the pedant by holding the pendant away from her body. It’s a moment that for me, and no doubt many others, heralds the start of Christmas.

Looking forward to seeing 3 Nutcrackers in the theatre, fortunately next week not this week, but contingent on Avanti operating its published timetable.

 

[FionaM]

9 minutes ago, Tango Dancer said:

 

I know who you mean and was wondering that too.  I thought it might be Christopher Carr (guest principal ballet master at the RB who does a lot of the staging) as it sort of looks a bit like him, but I may be completely wrong.  I'd like to know as well.  

It’s not Christoper Carr

[capybara]

10 hours ago, Finnbarr said:

Hello, RB experts

 

can anyone tell me who it is who plays the delightful old retainer who features in the Christmas party in The Nutcracker, wandering around with a candelabra as everyone goes to bed ? He has been in all the performances I have seen and I think he is a great comic actor. Is he an ex- dancer? 

His name was mentioned on a previous Nutcracker thread as he was not on stage during the pandemic.

He and his wife are both former dancers. I sat next to them both at a performance (of something else) last year.

 

 

 

[BalletcoForum Moderators]

On 12/12/2022 at 09:39, DVDfan said:

This is why I would never, ever go to a live ballet performance.

 

Mods, can we have a new audience behaviour thread, please? I want to come here and read about the performers and the production, not the audience.

Ask, and ye shall receive!  We have just opened a new Audience Behaviour thread, so any further comments on the issue should be directed there, please.