ROH Autumn 23 booking

[jmhopton]

I must admit I far prefer the BRB Don Q sets though the Bolshoi is my favourite Don Q production. 

[li tai po]

I will not be booking for Don Q this week.  This production has never emulated the glories of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi versions.  Others above have pointed out the weaknesses of the Royal Ballet production more eloquently than I could.  I cannot stand the sugary orchestration by Martin Yates, replacing the sharpness of brass with the blandness of strings - this is Minkus (and Petipa, demanding strong technique) - and not Massenet.

[Scheherezade]

My shock and disappointment at the wholly unconscionable price rises foisted upon the ROH’s loyal supporters and, indeed, anyone lacking bottomless pockets, and the cavalier way in which that loyalty is acknowledged by the ROH, is such that I do not trust myself to express my views in detail.

Subsequent discounts for the expensive seats do absolutely nothing to assist those whose frequent attendances, often over many decades, has depended upon the ongoing availability of affordable standing places or amphitheatre seats.

Time and again over the last few years, the ROH has shown its unmitigated contempt for those who love and support the arts. On that evidence, I should not, I suppose, be surprised at this latest display of callous disregard, but lack of surprise does nothing to minimise my dismay and disgust that the patronage of those who have consistently supported this institution, through good times and bad, is undervalued and dismissed in this way. 

[Sophoife]

I am utterly shocked that Don Q standing will be £26, especially given that there are some standing places with, directly in front of them, high stools whose occupiers (through no fault of their own) completely block the view. With opera that would be okay-ish, but with ballet?! 

 

I had one of these places for my second Sleeping Beauty and the usher told me to go and find his boss to get relocated. Which I did and which worked out brilliantly, but OMG. I'm going to email the ROH myself on this count.

[Lizbie1]

Are all the standing places £26 or are those in the Rear Amphi/Lower Slips cheaper?

[Bluebird]

23 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Are all the standing places £26 or are those in the Rear Amphi/Lower Slips cheaper?

Rear amphi and lower slips standing are £9. Also £9 are the upper and lower slips closest to the stage:

https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54536

Edited July 2, 2023 by Bluebird

[FionaM]

Sadly where the ROH management is concerned, only money talks. 
 

 

[Guest oncnp]

30 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

Rear amphi and lower slips standing are £9. Also £9 are the upper and lower slips closest to the stage:

https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54536

 

Thank you for posting the link. I can't seem to get that view (with the drop-down date box) to come up. 

[Lizbie1]

6 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

Thank you for posting the link. I can't seem to get that view (with the drop-down date box) to come up. 

 

Nor I!

[Guest oncnp]

4 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

Nor I!

 

And if the availability is accurate, I am most definitely not getting the seats I wanted. Forwarned and all....

[Guest oncnp]

14 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

Nor I!

 

 @Bluebird's link comes up with 7 Nov. If I go on the website and chose 7 Nov, the website address is different   https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=56223

 

[Bluebird]

3 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

 @Bluebird's link comes up with 7 Nov. If I go on the website and chose 7 Nov, the website address is different   https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=56223

 

That’s strange. I copied and pasted the link from September 30!

edited to add that your web address must be the November 7 one. This doesn’t explain why the September 30 link brings up November 7. The ROH website clearly has a mind if its own!

Edited July 2, 2023 by Bluebird

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

That’s strange. I copied and pasted the link from September 30!

 

All of the performances from your excellent link start with 54. All the performance numbers I can access from the website currently start with 56 and are generic seat maps 

 

Guess I'll just have to wait until the scrum on Wed morning to find out what's really available. 

[Guest oncnp]

15 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

That’s strange. I copied and pasted the link from September 30!

edited to add that your web address must be the November 7 one. This doesn’t explain why the September 30 link brings up November 7. The ROH website clearly has a mind if its own!

 

Yes - I looked up the 7 Nov address to see if it was the same as where your 30 Sept link led. 

 

Thanks again for posting it as it looks to be more accurate than what's on the site now. 

 

To add - and now the seat maps aren't coming up at all. 

Edited July 2, 2023 by oncnp

[Bluebird]

6 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

All of the performances from your excellent link start with 54. All the performance numbers I can access from the website currently start with 56 and are generic seat maps 

 

Guess I'll just have to wait until the scrum on Wed morning to find out what's really available. 

I’ve found that different dates seem to have different availability so it could be that they are showing real time availability- especially as many of the unavailable seats are popular with patrons and premium 2 Friends (i.e. it could be that those who sent in lists have already had their lists processed). I am, of course, only speculating.

[JohnS]

I can’t recall reading a more dispiriting thread on BalletcoForum and thought ROH senior people should know the strength of feeling as regards the Don Q booking issues and particularly the £26 standing price.

 

I’ve therefore followed up Friday’s email to Alex Beard with a link to this thread, copied to Kevin O’Hare and key senior managers.

 

I’d like to think the collective dismay expressed in so many posts will help bring about change and correct what seems to be an obvious error in the absence of any published rationale for having Don Q prices so out of step with other prices.

[capybara]

A good move, JohnS, but it's also the cavalier treatment of general communications with Friends which gives considerable cause for concern and I hope that that comes through the thread loud and clear as well.

I know of Friends at pretty much all levels who have not received the information about the delayed booking and, when they have written in, have been told to look in their SPAM.

The overall administration of the ROH needs a root and branch overhaul.

[Guest oncnp]

What I'm finding most frustrating about this is that they must have known there was a problem a week before booking  opened when they initially put up the seat maps. DonQ never appeared in any form. I asked the box office at the time and was told no, it was fine.  All someone from the IT/Marketing or whatever department is responsible for this cluster had to do was look, and they would have known it wasn't "fine ". Apparently, they don't go back and check that what they put up is actually working. 

 

And they're still doing it. 'Took the seat maps down again this morning, put the exact same generic maps back up. 

[zxDaveM]

left-hand, right-hand - not much going on inbetween

[Guest oncnp]

1 minute ago, zxDaveM said:

left-hand, right-hand - not much going on inbetween

 

The left hand doesn't even know there is a right hand....and vice versa

[Scheherezade]

3 hours ago, JohnS said:

I can’t recall reading a more dispiriting thread on BalletcoForum and thought ROH senior people should know the strength of feeling as regards the Don Q booking issues and particularly the £26 standing price.

 

I’ve therefore followed up Friday’s email to Alex Beard with a link to this thread, copied to Kevin O’Hare and key senior managers.

 

I’d like to think the collective dismay expressed in so many posts will help bring about change and correct what seems to be an obvious error in the absence of any published rationale for having Don Q prices so out of step with other prices.

Thank you, JohnS, I think they need to be told. And their response will demonstrate whether they are in the least bit bothered that the result of their pricing strategy will mean that many longstanding and passionate supporters of the ROH will no longer be able to afford attend. 

[JNC]

7 hours ago, Bluebird said:

Rear amphi and lower slips standing are £9. Also £9 are the upper and lower slips closest to the stage:

https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54536

on the basis of this link, the exact same seat for DQ I sat in for the 2018 revival has doubled (£26 to £52). I don’t know what the stalls seats would have cost but surely more than £75 (current equivalent price is £150, so going by half of that..)

 

Nothing clearer to me than ROH actively trying to price out those with less financial means. I’d known this for a while but even I am astonished at how obvious it is with this evidence.

 

Hardly any seats at £36 or less - many restricted view - (and the £52 category is also quite proportionally small by number) so at a visual guess easily 2/3 seats at £67 or more. Horrendous. I will be cancelling my membership and noting this is a very disadvantaging strategy that I don’t support, and haven’t ever, but can no longer support via being a “friend”. Maybe they won’t care, perhaps they think all friends are rich!

 

I used to invite many friends (not roh friends, just friends!) to the ballet, wanting to share my love for it and at £30 tickets for mid amphitheatre I often got people giving it a go and having a good night (and planning return visits, not always but sometimes) and remaking they thought the tickets were good value for money (not to be confused with cheap / underpriced). Now I’d be embarrassed to ask friends to pay £36 for a restricted view very far from the stage, and for first timers £52+ is a risk (I myself baulk a little at £52 but if I want to see a particular production or cast, I know what I’m getting in for). If I’m embarrassed to ask my friends to pay this, in a cost of living crisis, why is Roh asking me a “friend” to do so, on top of supporting them monthly! 
 

I dread to think of what swan lake pricing will be, and manon…I may not be able to go at all and save my money for Ashton and MacMillan, once only each. 

Edited July 2, 2023 by JNC

[OnePigeon]

I found my ticket for Jewels in 2007 the other day for which I paid £65 to sit in the stalls.  The cast was incredible - I even got a free Van Cleef and Arpels fan too. I used to pay about £80 for a three act ballet in the stalls in this era and it felt very expensive, but doable.  Sadly my wages haven’t increased in line with the cost of ticket prices and it makes me very sad that it’s come to this.  I’ll be chancing it for a Friday Rush ticket in the gods once again.  

[Blossom]

5 hours ago, JohnS said:

I can’t recall reading a more dispiriting thread on BalletcoForum and thought ROH senior people should know the strength of feeling as regards the Don Q booking issues and particularly the £26 standing price.

 

I’ve therefore followed up Friday’s email to Alex Beard with a link to this thread, copied to Kevin O’Hare and key senior managers.

 

I’d like to think the collective dismay expressed in so many posts will help bring about change and correct what seems to be an obvious error in the absence of any published rationale for having Don Q prices so out of step with other prices.

Although I think this is definitely something for AB to consider, I think the true test for him will be whether the spaces disappear just as quickly as always. The most significant changes have been made on this one production and from a pricing  perspective probably an experiment to see what happens. I would predict he will reply claiming increased costs for ROH, x% tickets still under £50 etc etc…

[Bluebird]

1 hour ago, JNC said:

on the basis of this link, the exact same seat for DQ I sat in for the 2018 revival has doubled (£26 to £52).

 

I've just checked the price of my 2018 Don Q seat - side front amphitheatre: £19. It has now gone up to £52!  An unbelievable increase. I thought £34 for Cinderella and Beauty was a lot but £52 is bordering on the ridiculous.

 

(Edited to add that all of  these front side amphitheatre seats have a  restricted view and, for some of the seats, particularly those in row B, the view can be very restricted)

 

Assuming the seating chart is correct, this increase in front side amphitheatre  prices (from £34 for Cinderella and Beauty to £52 for Don Q) is accompanied by a lowering of the higher prices elsewhere.  As I mentioned earlier in this thread, some stalls circle side seats that were £70 for Cinderella and Beauty have been reduced to £52 for Don Q.  Some of the stalls circle side seats which were £112 for Cinderella and Beauty have been reduced to £67 for Don Q. 

 

It's hard not to suspect that they've raised the price of the cheaper seats so as to compensate for the reduction in price of these more expensive seats.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Bluebird

[OnePigeon]

I wonder if the results of that survey has anything to do with the new pricing structure?  I think they must have had firm feedback that the higher prices were too high, but agree they’ll just say the ticket prices are still good value blah blah blah. Am I correct in thinking the top Nutcracker prices are quite a bit lower than they were for SB and Cinderella, or have I just become so inured to tickets costing over £100 now that I am seriously trying to justify considering paying up to actually see something up close next season?  

[capybara]

7 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

It's hard not to suspect that they've raised the price of the cheaper seats so as to compensate for the reduction in price of these more expensive seats.

I think that the ROH was besieged with complaints from people who paid £112 for SC Row B sides seats (a huge increase on the norm) but found their view of the stage to be more than usually restricted for Cinderella.

 

 

[Dawnstar]

37 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, some stalls circle side seats that were £70 for Cinderella and Beauty have been reduced to £52 for Don Q.  Some of the stalls circle side seats which were £112 for Cinderella and Beauty have been reduced to £67 for Don Q.

 

I've just dug out my 2019 Don Q order & found I paid £60 for stalls circle B93, which has gone up to £67 this time around, although the seats next to it from B92 have gone up to £83 (I don't know for sure if they were all the same price in 2019 but usually the whole row B bench is the same price).

 

21 minutes ago, capybara said:

I think that the ROH was besieged with complaints from people who paid £112 for SC Row B sides seats (a huge increase on the norm) but found their view of the stage to be more than usually restricted for Cinderella.

 

I'm not surprised that there would have been complaints. That price was ludicrous for the view in my opinion. I only sat in row C for Cinderella - as it was bad enough having to pay £70, I certainly couldn't afford £112 - but for Mayerling I was in row B for one performance (£75) with the rest in row C (£58). I thought the view in row B was really very little better than that of row C. The £17 price difference between the two rows for Mayerling was perhaps just about justifiable for the difference in view but I really do not think the £42 price difference for Cinderella would have been at all justified by the minimal difference in view. And that's before getting into paying £112 for sitting on a not very padded bench seat with no arms and, depending your neighbours, the risk of having an uncomfortably squashed evening. In fact from a comfort point of view I would say row C is marginally better than row B because with there only being 5 people to a bench before an aisle you are less likely to be uncomfortably squashed than in the 12-spaces row B bench. Also in row C there's no risk of getting kicked in your lower back by the person behind you, which I've had happen in row B before as the gap between the seat & back of the row B bench is at foot height for row C.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Dawnstar
Added first sentence of second paragraph.

[Scheherezade]

32 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

 

I've just checked the price of my 2018 Don Q seat - side front amphitheatre: £19. It has now gone up to £52!  An unbelievable increase. I thought £34 for Cinderella and Beauty was a lot but £52 is bordering on the ridiculous.

 

(Edited to add that all of  these front side amphitheatre seats have a  restricted view and, for some of the seats, particularly those in row B, the view can be very restricted)

 

Assuming the seating chart is correct, this increase in front side amphitheatre  prices (from £34 for Cinderella and Beauty to £52 for Don Q) is accompanied by a lowering of the higher prices elsewhere.  As I mentioned earlier in this thread, some stalls circle side seats that were £70 for Cinderella and Beauty have been reduced to £52 for Don Q.  Some of the stalls circle side seats which were £112 for Cinderella and Beauty have been reduced to £67 for Don Q. 

 

It's hard not to suspect that they've raised the price of the cheaper seats so as to compensate for the reduction in price of these more expensive seats.

It has now got to the point where it is beyond ridiculous. 

[Vanartus]

12 hours ago, JNC said:

on the basis of this link, the exact same seat for DQ I sat in for the 2018 revival has doubled (£26 to £52). I don’t know what the stalls seats would have cost but surely more than £75 (current equivalent price is £150, so going by half of that..)

 

Nothing clearer to me than ROH actively trying to price out those with less financial means. I’d known this for a while but even I am astonished at how obvious it is with this evidence.

 

Hardly any seats at £36 or less - many restricted view - (and the £52 category is also quite proportionally small by number) so at a visual guess easily 2/3 seats at £67 or more. Horrendous. I will be cancelling my membership and noting this is a very disadvantaging strategy that I don’t support, and haven’t ever, but can no longer support via being a “friend”. Maybe they won’t care, perhaps they think all friends are rich!

 

I used to invite many friends (not roh friends, just friends!) to the ballet, wanting to share my love for it and at £30 tickets for mid amphitheatre I often got people giving it a go and having a good night (and planning return visits, not always but sometimes) and remaking they thought the tickets were good value for money (not to be confused with cheap / underpriced). Now I’d be embarrassed to ask friends to pay £36 for a restricted view very far from the stage, and for first timers £52+ is a risk (I myself baulk a little at £52 but if I want to see a particular production or cast, I know what I’m getting in for). If I’m embarrassed to ask my friends to pay this, in a cost of living crisis, why is Roh asking me a “friend” to do so, on top of supporting them monthly! 
 

I dread to think of what swan lake pricing will be, and manon…I may not be able to go at all and save my money for Ashton and MacMillan, once only each. 

It’s very sad. This will be my last year as a (basic) Friend. I’ve been one since 1976, but it just doesn’t seem to be worthwhile anymore. And I’m shocked at the latest price rises, particularly for Don Q. I’ll still try and get a couple of tickets for the Osipova dates, but I’m going to see Dante In Copenhagen in November so I’ll skip London unless I can get a cheap deal. Otherwise it’ll be just the Ashton and MacMillan bills, with Manon if the casting calls…Amphi sides only for all!

[David]

The preoccupation rightly has focussed on the absurdity of the pricing structures but my family remain equally concerned re the dearth of casting information. With our booking slot due in a couple of days there is no way that we will be booking for The Dante Project  and The Nutcracker unless we know who will be dancing and when. It looks like we are going to save a lot of money!

[Scheherezade]

Setting aside, for the moment, the ridiculous prices put forward for Don Q standing tickets, the price rises set out by Bluebird for the restricted view side amphitheatre seats (£19 - £52 between 2019 - 2023) illustrate what can only be viewed as as a deliberate and callous attempt to price out those unable to afford even the cheapest of the current seats.
These are frequently pensioners who are unable to stand, or find it uncomfortable to twist their necks from the heavily restricted slips seats, for the duration of a performance, if at all, and who do not have the financial resources to pay the upwardly revised prices. Many pensioners have already been forced to cancel their Friends subscription and massively curtail their attendances due to the earlier post-Covid price rises, and that is before the latest, oppressive prices were given the all clear.

it is not unreasonable to assume that this policy has been embraced on the basis that those pensioners will not, in any event, be able to attend for much longer and they can therefore be disregarded in favour of those more able to meet the new prices and less likely to question them.

If AB trots out the tired old response of numerous seats under £30, I would challenge him to identify which seats adequately fit this description for pensioners with declining physical fitness, since affordable, discounted seats set aside for students, health workers and others are certainly not available to them.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Scheherezade

[li tai po]

This issue raises serious questions about the role of the Friends, which appears no longer to serve as an advocate for their members.

 

Susan Fisher operated a "focus group" and was active in listening to what the membership were saying and representing their views to senior management.  She set up the occasional direct meeting between Friends representatives and Tony Hall.  The annual introduction in the Linbury Theatre to next year's season afforded Friends the opportunity of a Q&A session and a dialogue with the artistic leaders of the ROH.

 

The current arrangement has placed the Friends as an administrative department under a middle manager, which actively promotes the propaganda of the Royal Opera House, but is apparently not interested in meeting or listening to members.  The annual introduction has been cancelled in recent years.  The Friends department are lying very low in the current situation.

 

No wonder contributors above are talking about cancelling their Friends membership.  The organisation appears to add little value or show little interest, except in high worth members.