Your ROH ticket purchase patterns for Autumn 2023 - have they changed?

[art_enthusiast]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

Why else in the last decade or so have they ditched the majority of the attractive productions they used to have & replaced them with more & more ugly, dreary, modern-set productions?!

 

Indeed. I did like the Traviata sets though, and Marriage of Figaro. But not much else!

[Lizbie1]

2 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Indeed. I did like the Traviata sets though, and Marriage of Figaro. But not much else!

 

I actually dislike that Traviata production (weird, cramped sets for most of it - maybe I just don't "get" Bob Crowley like everyone else seems to) and wish they'd replace it - the trouble is, there's no guarantee the replacement would be any better.

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, art_enthusiast said:

Indeed. I did like the Traviata sets though, and Marriage of Figaro. But not much else!

 

Those are two of the few more traditional productions still hanging on (if Nozze can be considered traditional when it's set in the 1830s rather than the 1780s). Traviata might in fact be the oldest production in the ROH's rep now. It's from 1994 and I'm struggling to think of any older productions still in use. There certainly aren't any in the next season:

 

Rheingold - new

Forza del Destino - 2019

L'Elisir D'Amore - 2007

Rigoletto - 2021

Jeptha - new

Cav & Pag - 2015

Hansel & Gretel - 2018

Elektra - new

Boheme - 2017

Tosca - 2006

Fliegende Hollander - 2009

Madama Butterfly - 2003

Carmen - new

Lucia di Lammermoor - 2016

Andrea Chenier - 2015

Cosi - 2016

[Emeralds]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Those are two of the few more traditional productions still hanging on (if Nozze can be considered traditional when it's set in the 1830s rather than the 1780s). Traviata might in fact be the oldest production in the ROH's rep now. It's from 1994 and I'm struggling to think of any older productions still in use. There certainly aren't any in the next season:

 

Rheingold - new

Forza del Destino - 2019

L'Elisir D'Amore - 2007

Rigoletto - 2021

Jeptha - new

Cav & Pag - 2015

Hansel & Gretel - 2018

Elektra - new

Boheme - 2017

Tosca - 2006

Fliegende Hollander - 2009

Madama Butterfly - 2003

Carmen - new

Lucia di Lammermoor - 2016

Andrea Chenier - 2015

Cosi - 2016

Andrei Serban’s Turandot - a gem of a staging, lovely colours, and a nice traditional style- dates from 1984 so probably the oldest still being performed. I agree with you that too many nice normal productions have been ditched in favour of ugly, drab and depressing new productions. (My bugbears: ditching the nice John Copley production of La Boheme and the Zambello - or Espert! - Carmen to be replaced by Kosky’s weird version. Not just my opinion- even the box office/balance sheets agree it’s horrible. Fingers crossed the new Carmen will be at least normal!) The 2015 Andrea Chenier is great - I would (and will, this coming season) see it again.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Emeralds

[Lizbie1]

20 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Andrei Serban’s Turandot - a gem of a staging, lovely colours, and a nice traditional style- dates from 1984 so probably the oldest still being performed.

 

I believe it's just been retired.

[Emeralds]

29 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I believe it's just been retired.

😮😮 I thought it sold very well this season! Certainly the audience at the performance I was at loved it so much that the cast nearly couldn’t go home- there was so much applause. I was told Turandot normally performs well at the box office- like Peter Wright’s Nutcracker (same age, funnily enough, although Nutcracker has had some tweaks over the years, but essentially same designs and overall look of the ballet.) If they’re not going to perform Turandot ever again, they’ve just killed one of the few golden geese the RO had.

[Lizbie1]

34 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

😮😮 I thought it sold very well this season! Certainly the audience at the performance I was at loved it so much that the cast nearly couldn’t go home- there was so much applause. I was told Turandot normally performs well at the box office- like Peter Wright’s Nutcracker (same age, funnily enough, although Nutcracker has had some tweaks over the years, but essentially same designs and overall look of the ballet.) If they’re not going to perform Turandot ever again, they’ve just killed one of the few golden geese the RO had.

 

Well I've just seen that the RO have said it will be revived again - several reviews claim(ed) otherwise so who knows whether the RO said something confusing or they've cancelled a new production.

 

I'm not complaining though!

 

(Fingers crossed that the new Tosca staging floated in Opera magazine goes the same way.)

[Dawnstar]

2 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Andrei Serban’s Turandot - a gem of a staging, lovely colours, and a nice traditional style- dates from 1984 so probably the oldest still being performed. I agree with you that too many nice normal productions have been ditched in favour of ugly, drab and depressing new productions. (My bugbears: ditching the nice John Copley production of La Boheme and the Zambello - or Espert! - Carmen to be replaced by Kosky’s weird version. Not just my opinion- even the box office/balance sheets agree it’s horrible. Fingers crossed the new Carmen will be at least normal!) The 2015 Andrea Chenier is great - I would (and will, this coming season) see it again.

 

Thanks, I'd forgotten about that one, which I shouldn't have given I saw it in 2017. I'm glad that it isn't being ditched yet. I did think of one more pre-1994 possibility which is the Moshinsky Simon Boccanegra from 1991. I saw it in 2018 when it was last revived & thought it was gorgeous. While it hasn't been done since then I haven't heard that it's definitely been scrapped so I live in hope it may get another outing. The McVicar Andrea Chenier must be one of the very few productions new in the last decade that is actually set in the right period as well as very attractive. I saw it in 2019 & might see it again next season but haven't decided yet (it may depend on who replaces Kaufmann 😉).

[Emeralds]

Haha, @Dawnstar, I know what you mean re: Kaufmann’s casting. Last year I was convinced he was cast in Cav/Pag just to sell tickets without actually planning to sing in it - works well for the ROH if people decide not to return tickets because of the £4 charge. I think we struck gold with Cav/Pag because Baek and Alagna were outstanding and not merely being “replacements”, but I don’t think Werther turned out so well this year- there was definitely a sense of it being a last minute “salvage” job, even though the  three (three!)  “replacements” were good tenors.  

 

I saw the production of Andrea Chenier in 2019 too- we could have been at the same show! (probably different sections though - I like to hear opera from high up). 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Thanks, I'd forgotten about that one, which I shouldn't have given I saw it in 2017. I'm glad that it isn't being ditched yet. I did think of one more pre-1994 possibility which is the Moshinsky Simon Boccanegra from 1991. I saw it in 2018 when it was last revived & thought it was gorgeous. While it hasn't been done since then I haven't heard that it's definitely been scrapped so I live in hope it may get another outing. The McVicar Andrea Chenier must be one of the very few productions new in the last decade that is actually set in the right period as well as very attractive. I saw it in 2019 & might see it again next season but haven't decided yet (it may depend on who replaces Kaufmann 😉).

I do like Elijah Moshinsky’s Simon Boccanegra 👍👍. Now there’s a good opera director-no weird gimmicks, and even for the tragedies, his productions have a dignified, stately look. (Not ugly or drab.) So sad he’s no longer with us. Rest in peace, Mr Moshinsky.

 

 

[Dawnstar]

14 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Haha, @Dawnstar, I know what you mean re: Kaufmann’s casting. Last year I was convinced he was cast in Cav/Pag just to sell tickets without actually planning to sing in it - works well for the ROH if people decide not to return tickets because of the £4 charge. I think we struck gold with Cav/Pag because Baek and Alagna were outstanding and not merely being “replacements”, but I don’t think Werther turned out so well this year- there was definitely a sense of it being a last minute “salvage” job, even though the  three (three!)  “replacements” were good tenors.  

 

I saw the production of Andrea Chenier in 2019 too- we could have been at the same show! (probably different sections though - I like to hear opera from high up). 

 

I agree the Cav & Pag replacements were excellent. I was so pleased to get to see Kurzak & Alagna in Pag as one of the things I was most sorry to not see in 2020 was the performances they had been due to do in April of that year. Having a different replacement for each Werther performance Kaufmann cancelled did feel like an unsatisfactory solution & must have made it difficult for the rest of the cast.

 

31st May 2019 for Chenier for me, side stalls circle as usual.

 

Incidentally, in case anyone is thinking I am extremely off topic in discussing opera productions on this thread, it was the dearth of any opera productions apart from Simon Boccanegra that I wanted to see in the first half of the 2018/19 season that made me decide to see the Royal Ballet live for the first time. That massively changed my subsequent ROH purchase patterns, going from only opera to a lot more ballet than opera.

[Emeralds]

46 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I agree the Cav & Pag replacements were excellent. I was so pleased to get to see Kurzak & Alagna in Pag as one of the things I was most sorry to not see in 2020 was the performances they had been due to do in April of that year. Having a different replacement for each Werther performance Kaufmann cancelled did feel like an unsatisfactory solution & must have made it difficult for the rest of the cast.

 

31st May 2019 for Chenier for me, side stalls circle as usual.

 

Incidentally, in case anyone is thinking I am extremely off topic in discussing opera productions on this thread, it was the dearth of any opera productions apart from Simon Boccanegra that I wanted to see in the first half of the 2018/19 season that made me decide to see the Royal Ballet live for the first time. That massively changed my subsequent ROH purchase patterns, going from only opera to a lot more ballet than opera.

Mine was 28 May- very close!  

 

I think the RO productions do count as members who watch both RB & RO might book for Autumn 2023 performances at the same time, and lack of operas one wants to see would mean more time and funds to see RB (and vice versa).

 

ROH used to do brochures advertising the season, and those were more likely to make me book more, as the production pictures and dates were laid out neatly for you to read. Now that it’s harder to see what’s being performed on the website, I tend not to book as many performances-“out of sight, out of mind.”

Edited August 17, 2023 by Emeralds

[alison]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

ROH used to do brochures advertising the season, and those were more likely to make me book more, as the production pictures and dates were laid out neatly for you to read. Now that it’s harder to see what’s being performed on the website, I tend not to book as many performances-“out of sight, out of mind.”

 

I totally agree: I now have no idea what's scheduled for next season, and even more so which opera singers are slated to appear.  I suppose I could have another go at producing my own calendar from the ROH webpages, but it's a real fag.

 

Something similar applies to Sadler's Wells now, too.  All they give us is a very brief 2-sided A5 card with some very basic date ranges, not even what's being performed and precisely when.  I end up missing quite a few things which I might have been interested in seeing had I realised they were on.

[Emeralds]

It’s heartening to see that there are still reasonably priced seats for Dante Project dotted around the auditorium that there aren’t (many of) for Don Q.

 

Also, The Limit with Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell (with freelance dancer-choreographers and former Rambert Dance Company members Hannah Rudd and Jacob Wye dancing the matinees) sounds very interesting - so that’s why Hayward and Campbell aren’t dancing Don Q, as they’re dancing 6 shows a week when The Limit is on. 

 

I’ll probably buy tickets to one or both of these two programmes nearer the time. Interesting to think that before the Linbury was built, The Limit would probably have been performed on the main stage as part of an RB mixed bill. 

[Geoff]

12 hours ago, Emeralds said:

so that’s why Hayward and Campbell aren’t dancing Don Q, as they’re dancing 6 shows a week

I could hazard another guess as to why Hayward is not dancing Kitri but don’t dare to. (Ducks back behind rock). 

[bridiem]

4 minutes ago, Geoff said:

I could hazard another guess as to why Hayward is not dancing Kitri but don’t dare to. (Ducks back behind rock). 

 

Her online biography on the ROH website is not up to date (why not?) and I can't remember if she's danced Kitri before; either way, I assume you're implying that Hayward would not be up to the technical demands of the role. That may possibly be the case - she's not a whizz-bang technical dancer (to coin a phrase) and has different and very exceptional qualities that I personally value much more highly. I also don't actually think that Kitri as a role is worth the effort if you're not that sort of dancer - it's fun, but has little of the dramatic potential or interest of other leading roles.

[Linnzi5]

33 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

Her online biography on the ROH website is not up to date (why not?) and I can't remember if she's danced Kitri before; either way, I assume you're implying that Hayward would not be up to the technical demands of the role. That may possibly be the case - she's not a whizz-bang technical dancer (to coin a phrase) and has different and very exceptional qualities that I personally value much more highly. I also don't actually think that Kitri as a role is worth the effort if you're not that sort of dancer - it's fun, but has little of the dramatic potential or interest of other leading roles.

I agree with you. I actually can’t envisage Hayward as Kitri and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I don’t see why every dancer should be suited to all principal roles- each have different strengths they bring and sometimes differences which may mean roles just aren’t for them. I do not value technical wizardry above the ability to emote, for example, and would much rather watch a moving performance than one full of technically brilliant jumps around the stage. 

[Guest oncnp]

4 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

Her online biography on the ROH website is not up to date (why not?) and I can't remember if she's danced Kitri before; 

 

Performance data base says no. Kitri's friend and Amour in the Nov-Jan 2014-15 run are all that are listed.  I would think that if she wanted to dance Kitri she would have by now. 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by oncnp

[alison]

On the other hand, Alexander Campbell has danced basilio successfully in the past, even ending up with the cinema relay, and he's not dancing in this run, so perhaps we should be wary of making assumptions.

 

It would be nice if we could get this thread back on track, too, please.

[Paco]

I come back to this forum after looong summer holidays (that's so French 😉 ...)

 

Regarding the question "Have I changed my ROH ticket purchase patterns", related to the price increase, in fact I have made trade off, but at the expense of other venues.

This means that this season I plan to attend as many Royal Ballet performances as previous years, but probably less at other venues, as my budget is not unlimited...

 

At current outsanding level of the RB, I could not decrease my attendance: For me the Royal Ballet is currently the best of the best of European companies, only challenged by the two most famous Russian ones. It is not only a matter of fantastic Principals (there are also fantastic Principals in Milano, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg...), but mostly the Corps de ballet and, globally, the general mindset of the company which is, under KOH management, above all standards I have ever seen since 30 years of attendance of ballet in Europe.

 

So, as prices are increasing, I have to choose and I will definitely not sacrifice purchases at the RB. So I plan to buy less tickets elsewhere (Amsterdam being probably the sacrificed one, just because they never publish casts sufficiently ahead of performances, resulting in unability to book hotels and trains at low price).

 

I know I am not the only French audience to have such trade off, I have French and German friends who are also currently spending huge amounts in RB tickets (+ travel), at the expense of other companies.

 

 

[Emeralds]

That’s wonderful to hear that you are enjoying the Royal Ballet’s performances so much and are continuing to book RB shows, @Paco! Many thanks to you, your French friends and your German friends for supporting and booking RB and travelling to London to attend their performances! 👍

[Silver Capricorn]

I will visit ROH much more often this season than last season.  It is already clear that 3x DQ, 1x Dante, 1x Nutcracker, 3x Manon, plus 2x Giselle (ENB) in Coli.  Definitely Swan Lake too depending on the casting.  In addition, I will also visit the ONP in Paris, I consider both ensembles equal, but in Paris I can see classical ballets choreographed by Nureyev, which I prefer above all.  I will go to Paris 3x for Don Q, 1x Fille, 3x Giselle including a guest appearance by Marianela Nunez and 2x Swan Lake.  So I have a wonderful season ahead of me.

[Richard LH]

On 09/09/2023 at 13:51, Silver Capricorn said:

I have a wonderful season ahead of me

Superb!...hope you have a great season.

[SheilaC]

Silver Capricorn, how do you know about Marienela dancing Giselle? I've just checked the POB website and I can't find any casting (although one of the performances I've booked was announced, months ago, as Myriam Ould-Braham's final performance). But checking the website did me a favour as it shows to casting for the programme I'll be seeing in Aix en Provence at the end of the month).

[Guest oncnp]

6 minutes ago, SheilaC said:

Silver Capricorn, how do you know about Marienela dancing Giselle? I've just checked the POB website and I can't find any casting (although one of the performances I've booked was announced, months ago, as Myriam Ould-Braham's final performance). But checking the website did me a favour as it shows to casting for the programme I'll be seeing in Aix en Provence at the end of the month).

I saw it on her IG

[San Perregrino]

2 hours ago, oncnp said:

I saw it on her IG

Did she give the actual dates or just an indication that she had been cast? 

[Guest oncnp]

10 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Did she give the actual dates or just an indication that she had been cast? 

From the POB website

Marianela Núñez, Principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, will be performing the role of Giselle on May 25th and 27th, 2024.

Edited September 11, 2023 by oncnp

[Silver Capricorn]

3 hours ago, SheilaC said:

Silver Capricorn, how do you know about Marienela dancing Giselle? I've just checked the POB website and I can't find any casting (although one of the performances I've booked was announced, months ago, as Myriam Ould-Braham's final performance). But checking the website did me a favour as it shows to casting for the programme I'll be seeing in Aix en Provence at the end of the month).

It is announced on the ONP website at the Giselle distribution.  25 and 27 May 2024. It is not yet known who will be her partner, whether someone from the étoiles of the Paris Ballet, there is no mention of a guest appearance in the role of Albrecht.