Royal Ballet Casting for Autumn 2023-24

[Dawnstar]

13 minutes ago, capybara said:

No need to apologise, @Dawnstar. This would be a very dull forum if there weren’t contrasting views. It’s good that you are interested in seeing Meaghan Grace Hinkis as Kitri.

 

The ‘disappearance’ of the casting for The Cellist is seriously weird as I looked at it only a few hours ago. IIRC the first cast (Lauren Cuthbertson etc) coincides with the Anemoi cast where Mariko Sasaki is the first-named dancer (4 shows). Mayara Magri’s group for The Cellist aligns with Hannah Park’s for Anemoi (3 shows).

 

I don't think I'll actually be able to see her, as it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to afford to fit in all the other casts I already wanted to see let alone adding another one, but in theory I'd like to see her!

 

I hope the disappearance is only a temporary website glitch & not that they're completely recasting or anything like that. Although thinking about it I would ideally like to see the first cast of Anemoi & the second cast of The Cellist so if they fancy swapping the pairings of casts for one or two shows...!

[Emeralds]

52 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I had a horrible feeling when I made my comment that I'd get a reply telling me that actually the already cast Principals need more shows, so apologies for my previous post.

 

Can anyone currently see the casting for The Cellist on the ROH's website? I was thinking about changing the date I am booked for so went to check which other dates the cast I want to see is due to do, only to find that I can only see the Anemoi casting and not the Cellist casting.

That is weird..... 😮😮. Well spotted, Dawnstar.

 

Not only is the casting gone but the ballet itself has been removed from each date (although still in the title), instead of just saying “The Cellist: the Company” or “The Cellist: TBC”) .

 

Wonder what’s going on.....it’s too extensive to be an IT glitch. I would suggest not paying to change any booking or buying new tickets specifically for casting in The Cellist yet until the casting has gone back on. Perhaps the casting (or the ballet!) is being rearranged. 

 

 

[Lindsay]

4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I suddenly wish I could see this cast. I can imagine Hinkis being a good fit as Kitri personality-wise. It's also nice to see a different dancer getting a go at a role rather than dancers already cast doing extra shows, as has been the case for the other Don Q cast changes & as is usually the case for lead cast changes.

I imagine (no offence to Hinkis who management clearly think is ready for the opportunity) it is also a case of having a Kitri short enough for Acri to partner.  It would be very unfair for him to miss his chance because of poor Akane's injury.

[Silke H]

I would've liked Isabella Gasparini been given the opportunity.  Especially since she just recently danced Kitri in Brazil.  She would have been a good height match for Luca, too.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Silke H
spelling correction

[Lindsay]

2 minutes ago, Silke H said:

I would've liked Isabella Gasparini been given the opportunity.  Especially since she just recently danced Kitri in Brazil.  She would have been a good height match for Luca, too.

I agree.  I also hope that Leticia Dias and Mariko Sasaki will get to dance Kitri at some point.

[alison]

2 hours ago, Silke H said:

I would've liked Isabella Gasparini been given the opportunity.  Especially since she just recently danced Kitri in Brazil.  She would have been a good height match for Luca, too.

 

Yes, when I was thinking who else I might have cast, my thoughts went to her, too.

[alison]

4 hours ago, capybara said:

Not necessarily relevant to DonQ, as some Principals are not dancing it anyway, but a half way measure might be for more senior artists who have taken the lead roles numerous times in a given ballet to ‘stand down’ in order to make way for others.

 

Or more likely, be stood down.  That's been a regular pattern in the past.

[Sim]

32 minutes ago, alison said:

 

Yes, when I was thinking who else I might have cast, my thoughts went to her, too.

So did mine.  

[capybara]

7 hours ago, Silke H said:

I would've liked Isabella Gasparini been given the opportunity.  Especially since she just recently danced Kitri in Brazil.  She would have been a good height match for Luca, too.

Me too!

 

7 hours ago, Lindsay said:

I agree.  I also hope that Leticia Dias and Mariko Sasaki will get to dance Kitri at some point.

 

Yes - agree; but they’ve only just become soloists!

[bridiem]

8 hours ago, Silke H said:

I would've liked Isabella Gasparini been given the opportunity.  Especially since she just recently danced Kitri in Brazil.  She would have been a good height match for Luca, too.

 

Me too. I'm afraid Hinkis does absolutely nothing for me whereas I would have scurried to get a ticket for Gasparini. 

[Linnzi5]

10 hours ago, Silke H said:

I would've liked Isabella Gasparini been given the opportunity.  Especially since she just recently danced Kitri in Brazil.  She would have been a good height match for Luca, too.

Totally agree with this.

[Linnzi5]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

 

Me too. I'm afraid Hinkis does absolutely nothing for me whereas I would have scurried to get a ticket for Gasparini. 

I feel the same way. 

[Guest oncnp]

7 hours ago, alison said:

 

Or more likely, be stood down.  That's been a regular pattern in the past.

Would the ROH be willing to risk the revenue? Without Osipova and Nuñez (7 sold out shows between them, even if Osipova had to withdraw) DonQ ticket sales would be even more dire

[MAX]

I think Isabelle Gasparini and M.G Hinkis are good and efficient first soloists but don't have the qualities we can expect from a principal dancer at The Royal Ballet.

[capybara]

23 minutes ago, oncnp said:

Would the ROH be willing to risk the revenue? Without Osipova and Nuñez (7 sold out shows between them, even if Osipova had to withdraw) DonQ ticket sales would be even more dire

Regarding the ‘standing down’ of Principals - of course, there would need to be a ‘pick and mix’ approach to this. As I inferred when I mentioned it up thread, many factors would come into play.

[Mary]

Kitri is such a demanding role- not only the technical demands but the need to make them look easy and show a debonair flair and daring etc throughout quite long bravura sequences.

 

It does seem odd that on the one hand we have discussed whether RB has too many Principals, and whether they get enough perfornances - and  then we have non-Principals in Principal roles.

 

I agree with those who have said ROH does not show off its dancers enough in marketing, too. I got an email from them with photos outside the stage door on first night;  well, quite fun, but what about some more photos of the dancers, advertising those coming up etc? ( and not just Principal roles.)

 

 

 

 

[Guest oncnp]

5 minutes ago, capybara said:

Regarding the ‘standing down’ of Principals - of course, there would need to be a ‘pick and mix’ approach to this. As I inferred when I mentioned it up thread, many factors would come into play.

 

Could you elaborate? 

[Mary]

Related to the mystery of disappeared casting for Anemoi/Cellist, I've just had TWO emails from ROH offering me 25% off and cheap stalls seats- but I am sure that is just because of sales, not casting. Not having casting up won't help tempt people of course.

 

I am no expert but could have predicted this show would not sell, what a huge shame it really is- all that talent really deserves to be seen, shown off and enjoyed.

 

 

[Guest oncnp]

I've e-mailed customer service re: disappearing Cellist. They are fiddling with other areas of the website again and may not even realize it's gone. It happened before with the Freind's Rehearsal page when they apparently didn't realize that they removed all the production names from the booking page.  

[Guest oncnp]

7 minutes ago, Mary said:

Related to the mystery of disappeared casting for Anemoi/Cellist, I've just had TWO emails from ROH offering me 25% off and cheap stalls seats- but I am sure that is just because of sales, not casting. Not having casting up won't help tempt people of course.

 

I am no expert but could have predicted this show would not sell, what a huge shame it really is- all that talent really deserves to be seen, shown off and enjoyed.

 

 

Will be interesting to see if this program sells even at a discount 

[Suffolkgal]

Also received this too! Mind you day on day I have emails with offers on shows. 

[capybara]

Sadly so typical of the ROH to allow the essential information to ‘go missing’ while, at the same time, making a reduced price offer.

[JohnS]

16 minutes ago, Mary said:

Related to the mystery of disappeared casting for Anemoi/Cellist, I've just had TWO emails from ROH offering me 25% off and cheap stalls seats- but I am sure that is just because of sales, not casting. Not having casting up won't help tempt people of course.

 

I am no expert but could have predicted this show would not sell, what a huge shame it really is- all that talent really deserves to be seen, shown off and enjoyed.

 

 

I’d be very interested to know how the ROH goes about offering discounts, for example whether it is targeting people who are already going, or those not currently booked but who might have gone last time?

[capybara]

Just now, JohnS said:

I’d be very interested to know how the ROH goes about offering discounts, for example whether it is targeting people who are already going, or those not currently booked but who might have gone last time?

Well, they should be targeting me as I have only got I ticket for this double bill when I usually have at least three for every programme.

[FionaM]

I’m trying to take advantage of the 25% offer and discover each of 20,21,23 October is showing zero availability except boxes.   Must be a computer error.

 

On hold to box office now …  to book manually and to tell them to wake up their website team. 

 

 

[Guest oncnp]

15 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I’d be very interested to know how the ROH goes about offering discounts, for example whether it is targeting people who are already going, or those not currently booked but who might have gone last time?

 

Excellent question. I am in neither of the above categories but have booked 3 DonQs, 2 Limits, a couple Manons  and am a Friend so any number of permutations there

 

And if they really want to sell it put the discounts proximately on the ROH landing page and on the booking page.  

Edited October 7, 2023 by oncnp

[JohnS]

Do I take it you haven’t received the offer @capybara? I haven’t had the offer but am going 3 times plus the General Rehearsal.

[Mary]

I haven't booked yet and got the offer.

[ellyb]

I always assumed that the Royal Ballet was paid for use of its stars, do they not receive an income though lending the dancers out? I figured that it was financially beneficial to have many principals who only do a couple of shows at home and most elsewhere, plus of course the added benefit of keeping the dancers happy and building their reputations, and the reputation of the RB. I may well be wrong though!

[bangorballetboy]

11 minutes ago, FionaM said:

I’m trying to take advantage of the 25% offer and discover each of 20,21,23 October is showing zero availability except boxes.   Must be a computer error.

 

On hold to box office now …  to book manually and to tell them to wake up their website team. 

 

 

Normal availability is showing for me. Worth trying a different browser?

[FionaM]

Just now, bangorballetboy said:

Normal availability is showing for me. Worth trying a different browser?

normal availability is showing for me on the other dates ?

[JohnS]

And now discounts are offered for The Cellist, what will people do if they’ve not yet booked for Dante? Always difficult but whenever discounting has to be used, there must be lessons regarding how prices were originally pitched. The more frequently the ROH has to resort to discounting, the less incentive there is to book early at full price.

[Guest oncnp]

10 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Do I take it you haven’t received the offer @capybara? I haven’t had the offer but am going 3 times plus the General Rehearsal.

 

When I tried God25 it came up as (Return Booker offer)