English National Ballet casting thread 2023/24

[zxDaveM]

9 hours ago, Irmgard said:

When Aaron and I were doing the casting together for Mary Skeaping's "Giselle", I asked if the Peasant Pas de Deux casting could be included on the website as I know it is of interest to a lot of people.  I also hope the casting will remain as planned and I am glad it has received such a positive response on here. 

 

the casting for the peasant pdd certainly influenced my ticket purchase, so thank you! 🙂

[OnePigeon]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

I'm dubious about ballet in the round and even more dubious about seeing it from the upper reaches of the RAH (where I have often sat for music concerts, and it feels very much further away than e.g. the Amphitheatre at the ROH or the balcony at the Coliseum). I went to John Curry's skating show there many years ago and could see very little from up top. And there's no way I would sit there AND pay the prices asked for. So I don't go to the RAH for ballet.

Not to mention the popcorn munchers/throwers and the constant flow of late admittes distracting and blocking your view.  I just asked my child if they’d like to go and they said they didn’t want to see a ballet there again for those reasons.  Such discernment at such a tender age 😆.

 

I used to have a colleague who owned seats at the RAH and we used to see anything he didn’t want to see free of charge.  I don’t actually know how that works in terms of the seats becoming available for the RAH to sell though.

[bangorballetboy]

9 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I withdraw my comment about possibly seeing SL then! I'm certainly not prepared to cough up something in the region of £100 given the downsides of the overall experience at Cinderella this season. I'm also not prepared to cough up £100 10 months in advance when the casting could end up being completely different if dancers get injured & the RAH doesn't do refunds or exchanges.

 

The RAH will issue a credit note valid for a year

[San Perregrino]

11 hours ago, Irmgard said:

When Aaron and I were doing the casting together for Mary Skeaping's "Giselle", I asked if the Peasant Pas de Deux casting could be included on the website as I know it is of interest to a lot of people.  I also hope the casting will remain as planned and I am glad it has received such a positive response on here. 

I know that there are only a certain number of performances of any production, but ‘incomers’ seemed to have displaced existing dancers in that I’m really surprised that Lorenzo Trossello has been omitted from the Giselle casting. After outstanding performances in lead roles for ENB since his move from Northern, Lorenzo was definitely someone I was expecting to see dance Albrecht. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by PeterS

[MAX]

Great to have casting until June !

 

No news about who will dance Theme and Variations in September or have I missed something ?

[Dawnstar]

4 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

The RAH will issue a credit note valid for a year

 

Thanks, that's useful to know. I did check the RAH's website yesterday & could only find a no refunds or exachanges statement.

 

13 hours ago, Irmgard said:

I can only speak for Mary Skeaping's "Giselle" but I can certainly give you a bit of insight into the casting process for that. I have obviously known the company for a long time and have worked with a number of the dancers previously but, during the past season, I tried to watch even more casts in each production than I usually do. Therefore, when Aaron Watkin and I discussed casting for Giselle and Albrecht we considered which dancers looked good together physically and, of course, had that all-important element of chemistry. Some of the partnerships we chose have already been 'tried and tested' in other productions, and then we both came up with suggestions for new partnerships which we think will be exciting.  We used the same process for the Peasant Pas de Deux. Of course, it goes without saying that they are all exceptionally fine dancers ☺️! 

 

Thank you very much for your reply. Before it gets to the pairing stage, may I ask how the dancers who will be performing the lead roles are selected in the first place? It evidently isn't just on rank, at least not for the men given one Albrecht is a Soloist and another a Junior Soloist. Also may I ask if it was more complicated this time because of the influx of new dancers joining the company this season? It feels like that could make it harder to select pairings than if all the dancers were already known to each other & used to dancing with each other. (I quite understand if you aren't able to answer these questions.)

[capybara]

5 hours ago, PeterS said:

I know that there are only a certain number of performances of any production, but ‘incomers’ seemed to have displaced existing dancers in that I’m really surprised that Lorenzo Trossello has been omitted from the Giselle casting. After outstanding performances in lead roles for ENB since his move from Northern, Lorenzo was definitely someone I was expecting to see dance Albrecht. 

 

Such absences from the casting are not at all unusual when there is a change of AD however much those of us outside might wish it were otherwise. [Certainly, some dancers were 'missing in action' quite a bit when Rojo took over.] But Trossello is dancing with Laurretta Summerscales in both The Nutcracker and Swan Lake in the Round so he is clearly going to be given opportunities.

[CCL]

I’m absolutely delighted that casting has been announced in a timely manner. I have booked seats for Oliveira/Frola in Giselle and I’m beyond excited! I have also booked for Nutcracker (my daughters would not forgive me if we missed it), and am really looking forward to seeing Precious Adams as Clara. 

[jmhopton]

I'm excited by the casting and how far in advance it is! For me, it's great so I can try to sort out a combination of Giselle and Manon visits before the ROH Friends booking opens. So I'm definitely going to book for the Frola matinee and also the matinee on the 18th Jan as I want to stop over on the 17th after (hopefully) seeing the Manon rehearsal and opening night. I might book more Giselles (would like to see the opening night cast) but am conscious I'm not really saving for the Ashton like I hoped and we've still got SL to book for; not that I anticipate going to many as it's not a ballet I'm really keen on. Might give Winter's Tale a miss for the same reason though it may depend on casting. If Vadim does Leontes....?

 

However, what I really want to know is does the Coliseum or ENB have a refund/credit policy at all? I've had to cancel so many performances/holidays for different reasons recently I get a bit stressed if I'm booking for something where I can't get a refund or credit. That's why the ROH is so good. You can book with confidence knowing if you have to cancel you can get credit and there are always future performances coming up you want to attend. Can't really say that with either the Coliseum or ENB so I'm just curious if anything is in place.

 

Just had another thought. I was thinking of booking the side front row of the upper circle. I generally like an aisle seat if possible. What are the very end seats A 1 and 48 like? can you see the whole stage? I can't see a seat view. I know I could move 4 or 5 seats further in for the same price but am just curious about the end seats. I've sat on the front row before so know all about the restricted leg room. Is there a rail that gets in the way?

Edited August 18, 2023 by jmhopton

[Emeralds]

20 hours ago, alison said:

 

Eek - I HATE dynamic pricing, especially when the venue isn't open about it

 

Do you necessarily know that the boxes (and possibly stalls?) seats have sold well?  I know a lot of the boxes, at least, are privately owned, and the owners often don't decide until much nearer the time whether to release them for sale or not.  But £200 per seat is shocking: anyone would think this was the ROH!

I agree it’s very hard to tell whether it’s ownership, but boxes I’ve sat in for ENB Cinderella or BBC Proms in the past seem to be “gone” for certain dates and on sale for others, eg weekday evenings. How do these boxes work- are they owned by the owners for every show or does it work like a timeshare (lol) - you just get it for a certain number of performances and no more? 

 

I found that for a few of the weekend performances, many of the tickets with decent views in the Stalls, loggia and all boxes gone, only the Rausing Circle seats (very, very far away compared to amphitheatre views at ROH) or seats all the way to the sides left. 

 

Quite a lot of weekday evening performances still have lots of good seat choices left. The range of tickets available is very interesting for those of us who have watched box office sales of various productions- ticket prices are higher than for Wheeldon’s Cinderella, and the performances are 10 months away (the season hasn’t even begun), but an impressive number are “gone”- that includes Stalls seats. Swan Lake and Nutcracker are the top performing ballets at the box office, and RAH seems to be the best performing London venue in terms of marketing any genre of performance (they seem to be able to sell anything!) but I’m still astounded at the number of high price seats gone/sold so far in advance. 

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, jmhopton said:

I'm excited by the casting and how far in advance it is! For me, it's great so I can try to sort out a combination of Giselle and Manon visits before the ROH Friends booking opens. So I'm definitely going to book for the Frola matinee and also the matinee on the 18th Jan as I want to stop over on the 17th after (hopefully) seeing the Manon rehearsal and opening night. I might book more Giselles (would like to see the opening night cast) but am conscious I'm not really saving for the Ashton like I hoped and we've still got SL to book for; not that I anticipate going to many as it's not a ballet I'm really keen on. Might give Winter's Tale a miss for the same reason though it may depend on casting. If Vadim does Leontes....?

 

However, what I really want to know is does the Coliseum or ENB have a refund/credit policy at all? I've had to cancel so many performances/holidays for different reasons recently I get a bit stressed if I'm booking for something where I can't get a refund or credit. That's why the ROH is so good. You can book with confidence knowing if you have to cancel you can get credit and there are always future performances coming up you want to attend. Can't really say that with either the Coliseum or ENB so I'm just curious if anything is in place.

 

Just had another thought. I was thinking of booking the side front row of the upper circle. I generally like an aisle seat if possible. What are the very end seats A 1 and 48 like? can you see the whole stage? I can't see a seat view. I know I could move 4 or 5 seats further in for the same price but am just curious about the end seats. I've sat on the front row before so know all about the restricted leg room. Is there a rail that gets in the way?

Re: Coliseum+ENB refunds/exchanges, they officially say “no exchange/refund at all”, but it varies depending on staff member! Sometimes some of the staff have offered an exchange with a £3 charge for a mitigating reason (rail strikes, illness, flood etc), but sometimes they have said no, even though that show was sold out and they could have easily put it back on sale, resold, and earned extra money from the £3 charges. I think how far in advance it is might have been the deciding factor. (They did the exchanges when it was about 5-7 days before the show.) No credit policy at all. I think this is a Coliseum policy rather than ENB, as at Sadler’s Wells, the ENB ticketing follows the exchange/refund policy that SW has in place. 

 

A1 and A48 views in the Coliseum upper circle would be classed as not restricted (nor semi restricted) at ROH. You probably miss about 1% of the action on that side near the curtain and wings, but not any bit of the various pas de deux or solos (I’ve sat in both). No rails. Yes, it’s a pity they have no seat views on the booking website. I’ve found that generally the Coliseum views are fine from all seats except boxes at the sides and that first to ?third row in the balcony, where, depending on your height, the light rigging and/or rail might block part of your view. 

[Bluebird]

Seatplan.com has photos of views from many of the seats at the London Coliseum:

 

https://seatplan.com/london/london-coliseum-theatre/seating-plan/

 

 

[Emeralds]

10 hours ago, MAX said:

Great to have casting until June !

 

No news about who will dance Theme and Variations in September or have I missed something ?

Theme and Variations can’t be finalised until the Balanchine Trust repetiteur Victoria Simon arrives to work with ENB, which is close to the start of the run. I’ve put the quote from @Irmgard, who works with the company and is in charge of Mary Skeaping’s production of Giselle, where she informed us about T&V on another thread:

“Victoria Simon, from the Balanchine Trust, is not due to join the company for another couple of weeks, and she will want to see the dancers in action before it is decided which casts do which performances - and this has to coordinate with the two new pieces.  Therefore, "Giselle" and "Nutcracker" performance casting will be announced prior to the triple bill casting.”  (Thank you Irmgard).

 

Unfortunately not much we can do about that as Ms Simon’s and ENB’s schedule is what it is . I’m sort of juggling what I can see/do/book for those two weekends while waiting. It’s also the casting of T&V that’s more crucial for me than Noces/Last Songs. 

[Emeralds]

14 hours ago, bridiem said:

I'm dubious about ballet in the round and even more dubious about seeing it from the upper reaches of the RAH (where I have often sat for music concerts, and it feels very much further away than e.g. the Amphitheatre at the ROH or the balcony at the Coliseum). I went to John Curry's skating show there many years ago and could see very little from up top. And there's no way I would sit there AND pay the prices asked for. So I don't go to the RAH for ballet.

I agree- the RAH version of the ROH amphitheatre or Coliseum balcony, called the Rausing Circle,  is really very far away - great for orchestral music (the Swan Lake music sounds incredible from there and even more amazing from the Gallery, which isn’t sold for ENB ballets) but not great for watching the dancing. On the plus side, the rake is very good compared to eg ROH so patrons in front don’t block your view even if they lean forward a bit, and every seat has arm rests and is more roomy than ROH or Coliseum. 

 

I happened to be sitting in the Rausing Circle for a Prom this week and while looking at the orchestra on the stage and the Prommers standing in the arena where the dancing would be for ENB’s Swan Lake, I thought about whether I’d want to watch ballet again (I’ve sat there once for ENB’s Swan Lake some years ago and everyone looked minuscule) from that far. The distance from the front to middle rows are probably  akin to the last row of ROH Amphitheatre and people did look tiny and very far away (would have to watch the entire show through binoculars again). So probably not, unless every non-restricted view seat in the Stalls, loggia, Grand Tier and Second Tier had sold out. 

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

Re: Coliseum+ENB refunds/exchanges, they officially say “no exchange/refund at all”, but it varies depending on staff member! Sometimes some of the staff have offered an exchange with a £3 charge for a mitigating reason (rail strikes, illness, flood etc), but sometimes they have said no, even though that show was sold out and they could have easily put it back on sale, resold, and earned extra money from the £3 charges. I think how far in advance it is might have been the deciding factor. (They did the exchanges when it was about 5-7 days before the show.) No credit policy at all. I think this is a Coliseum policy rather than ENB, as at Sadler’s Wells, the ENB ticketing follows the exchange/refund policy that SW has in place.

 

I was allowed to swap dates for Swan Lake last season once the casting had been announced, and when I'd booked the ticket at the box office I'd asked if I would be able to swap & was told I would. (I had to book before the SL casting was announced in order to get the ticket deal for booking along with a rapidly selling out Nutcracker.) So there is certainly a gap between the official policy & what at least some box office staff are allowing.

[Geoff]

8 hours ago, Bluebird said:

Seatplan.com has photos of views from many of the seats at the London Coliseum:

 

https://seatplan.com/london/london-coliseum-theatre/seating-plan/

Many thanks Bluebird. Very useful.
 

It also shows how subjective seating can be. The grading of seats is done by customers, leading to adjacent seats with essentially the same view being marked very differently.

 

For example, there are people who love the front of the balcony in the Coliseum and others who hate it. The scores in that section go from the very worst to the very best eg C34 gets 5 stars whereas C31 (three seats nearer the centre) gets only 1 star. As with Amazon reviews etc, probably worth taking an average and then looking carefully at the worst reviews to see if they tell you something specific which is relevant.

 

Also photos may have been done by people to reinforce their subjective opinion. I found a photo taken from a seat I have sat in many times in the Coliseum Balcony which gives a great view of the stage - but the Seatplan picture is taken low down from behind a tall person and so suggests one can’t see the much of the stage (as it is at the end of a row it is easy to adjust how one sits if there is a looming figure in front but the reviewer clearly didn’t feel able to do that). My photo from the same seat would have been very different. 
 

 

[Irmgard]

22 hours ago, PeterS said:

I know that there are only a certain number of performances of any production, but ‘incomers’ seemed to have displaced existing dancers in that I’m really surprised that Lorenzo Trossello has been omitted from the Giselle casting. After outstanding performances in lead roles for ENB since his move from Northern, Lorenzo was definitely someone I was expecting to see dance Albrecht. 

|We have some lovely casts "waiting in the wings" for future performances and in the supporting roles for the Coliseum performances but, as the dancers involved have yet to be informed, I cannot say more at present.

[Irmgard]

19 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Thank you very much for your reply. Before it gets to the pairing stage, may I ask how the dancers who will be performing the lead roles are selected in the first place? It evidently isn't just on rank, at least not for the men given one Albrecht is a Soloist and another a Junior Soloist. Also may I ask if it was more complicated this time because of the influx of new dancers joining the company this season? It feels like that could make it harder to select pairings than if all the dancers were already known to each other & used to dancing with each other. (I quite understand if you aren't able to answer these questions.)

With "Giselle", we started off with the title role.  As I previously mentioned, I have been able to watch a lot of performances and had a very strong idea of who I would like to cast, based on musicality, dramatic ability, charisma and, of course exquisite technique.  It was then a case of matching Albrechts to them in whom, as well as the aforementioned qualities, I was looking for elegant and secure partnering techniques.  With only one male Lead Principal and one male Principal in the company at the time Aaron Watkin and I started talking about casting, we obviously looked at the other ranks to see who fitted those criteria.  We then observed two days of classes, which the dancers were informed were "audition classes" and which contained various centre-work exercises related to the choreography for "Giselle" to help reinforce our thoughts, especially useful in the casting of Myrtha, with her fiendishly difficult solos in Mary Skeaping's production.  After that, we had to decide who would get performances in London and who would learn it and be coached for future performances.  As a new artistic director, Aaron was keen to introduce the dancers he had brought from Dresden and so they were "added into the mix".   I hope this gives you a general idea of the process involved in casting the production.

[LinMM]

Yes there is such a good rake way up in the RAH that it’s like looking out straight down a sheer cliff!!  Once a few years back I nearly got stuck in my seat up there as couldn’t stand up to get out so in the end had to go sidling out facing away from the Auditorium with a strangers kindly helping hand to then reach the exit. 
So definitely never again up there for me!! 
I do think though that in normal circumstances it’s okay sitting more distant for a concert than it is for watching ballet. 
A very long time ago when heights weren’t “a thing” I sat up there to see Shirley Bassey and she shone through all the way up there ..terrific performance!! 

[capybara]

Can’t get my head around the mix of discussion in this thread: fascinating detail about ENB casting one minute; RAH (or Coli) seating the next.

Please could the posts about seating be separate? (I do understand its importance!)

 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by capybara

[zxDaveM]

The seating in the Coli does affect my ticket purchase though; I love the Skeaping Giselle, but wasn't going to buy any tickets as the thought of 'numb-bum' in the Balcony put me off - but the casting pursuaded me to change my mind! 🙂

[Sim]

I know that we on the forum are a small percentage of the audience, but I do hope that Aaron and perhaps other companies reading this thread realise that there are benefits to be gained from early casting announcements:  how many people here have already bought tickets months in advance once they have seen the casting?  Quite a few, including a few who weren't going to go at all!  And for more than one performance in many cases.  Once again, thank you ENB.

[capybara]

5 minutes ago, Sim said:

I know that we on the forum are a small percentage of the audience, but I do hope that Aaron and perhaps other companies reading this thread realise that there are benefits to be gained from early casting announcements:  how many people here have already bought tickets months in advance once they have seen the casting?  Quite a few, including a few who weren't going to go at all!  And for more than one performance in many cases.  Once again, thank you ENB.

Couldn’t agree more. ENB has been notoriously bad of late and this week’s announcement has made an essential difference. 👏👏 Aaron (and Irmgard).

 

The RB does cast well in advance but not sufficiently ahead of booking dates.

BRB - are you listening?

[Irmgard]

14 minutes ago, Sim said:

I know that we on the forum are a small percentage of the audience, but I do hope that Aaron and perhaps other companies reading this thread realise that there are benefits to be gained from early casting announcements:  how many people here have already bought tickets months in advance once they have seen the casting?  Quite a few, including a few who weren't going to go at all!  And for more than one performance in many cases.  Once again, thank you ENB.

I have mentioned to Aaron, and to Patrick Harrison (ENB's Executive Director), the interest and thanks publishing the casting has generated (and the upswing in ticket sales), and I know it is Aaron's policy (now that he is officially Artistic Director, instead of 'Designate') to publish casting as early as is feasible. 

[emmarose]

I have no idea what to do for seating, I've never seen ballet at the Coli, and usually go for dress for everything else there. 

 

I like the close stalls circle at the ROH, does anyone have any advice on where to sit? Are the boxes good value/good sightlines? 

[LinMM]

I always sit in the Upper Circle at the Coliseum and you get a very good view from the lower rows there. 
I’ve never tried the Dress Circle but might do in the future if the price was right. 

My first cast for this is the Khaniukova and Arrieta one. 
Unfortunately all Frola’s performances are on Saturday and Sunday when travelling is very difficult in the winter months especially on Sundays. 

Edited August 19, 2023 by LinMM

[Dawnstar]

3 hours ago, Irmgard said:

With "Giselle", we started off with the title role.  As I previously mentioned, I have been able to watch a lot of performances and had a very strong idea of who I would like to cast, based on musicality, dramatic ability, charisma and, of course exquisite technique.  It was then a case of matching Albrechts to them in whom, as well as the aforementioned qualities, I was looking for elegant and secure partnering techniques.  With only one male Lead Principal and one male Principal in the company at the time Aaron Watkin and I started talking about casting, we obviously looked at the other ranks to see who fitted those criteria.  We then observed two days of classes, which the dancers were informed were "audition classes" and which contained various centre-work exercises related to the choreography for "Giselle" to help reinforce our thoughts, especially useful in the casting of Myrtha, with her fiendishly difficult solos in Mary Skeaping's production.  After that, we had to decide who would get performances in London and who would learn it and be coached for future performances.  As a new artistic director, Aaron was keen to introduce the dancers he had brought from Dresden and so they were "added into the mix".   I hope this gives you a general idea of the process involved in casting the production.

 

Thank you very much for your reply. It is particularly interesting to hear that the dancers in the lower ranks effectively auditioned, something I didn't realise happened in permanent companies.

 

42 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Unfortunately all Frola’s performances are on Saturday and Sunday when travelling is very difficult in the winter months especially on Sundays. 

 

Frola's first performance is on a Friday, 12th January. I'm hoping to book for that date, if there are seats left in the area I want by the time I'm able to afford to book.

[LinMM]

But for me would mean travelling back on the Saturday! Obviously preferable to be making way home with problems than actually going to a performance but Friday/Saturday/ Sunday performances have to be reserved for very special occasions for me.
Im also in London most weeks mid week so Monday/Tuesday/ Wednesdays always best for me as this only needs involving two possible nights and saves travelling back up again at weekends. 
Im looking at another cast to see besides my no. 1 (as Khaniukova my first choice for Giselle) not sure yet which one but unlikely to be Frola cast in the end. 
As well as Tuesday 16th I’m looking mostly at the matinee on the 18th …so many interesting debuts! 
My only concern is that the 18th will be a schools matinee and not sure if Giselle and school matinees really go together! 
Having said that I did once take years back now a group of about ten  9-10 year olds to an ENB Giselle matinee but they knew the story pretty well by the time we went …….and only got their sweets in the interval!! They were really well behaved not a cheep from them but sadly if the ballet isn’t quite right this is not always the case with unprepared school children. 

Edited August 19, 2023 by LinMM

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

Thank you very much for your reply. It is particularly interesting to hear that the dancers in the lower ranks effectively auditioned, something I didn't realise that this happened in permanent companies.

There have been instances elsewhere where all company members have effectively auditioned for roles and dancers ‘below’ Principal rank have been the ones cast.

[Dawnstar]

54 minutes ago, LinMM said:

But for me would mean travelling back on the Saturday! Obviously preferable to be making way home with problems than actually going to a performance but Friday/Saturday/ Sunday performances have to be reserved for very special occasions for me.

 

Sorry, I had assumed that you would be travelling home the same evening, as Brighton isn't that far from London.

 

35 minutes ago, capybara said:

There have been instances elsewhere where all company members have effectively auditioned for roles and dancers ‘below’ Principal rank have been the ones cast.

 

I had assumed it would be that the Artistic Director, in consultation with the various Ballet Masters & Mistressses, would select dancers based on their previous work for companies that have a permanent ensemble of dancers. I would have thought that auditions would only be for "scratch" companies assembled from freelance dancers for a particular production. Evidently I am, as is usually the case with ballet matters, completely wrong!

[LinMM]

I don’t live in the centre of Brighton but about four miles out and the last bus goes at 11.20pm this end so no chance of making that from a London Theatre trip …..as it’s an hour and quarter on the train once I actually get to the station!  I could pay out for a £25 taxi fare but as it’s now free for me to stay up in London anyway without the stress of trying to catch a late train (especially in the winter with more late night cancellations which I have had to deal with in the past….just dreary) …it’s a no brainer for me really! Yes I know I’m incredibly lucky!! 

By the way Brighton is 77 miles to drive to and Cambridge is 61 miles so Brighton is further from London but have to admit although I knew it was close I would have put Cambridge as further! 
 

Edited August 19, 2023 by LinMM

[Dawnstar]

I likewise am a few miles out from the centre of Cambridge & the last bus goes before my usual post-theatre train gets just in after midnight. I get retrieved by my long-suffering mother. Staying overnight in London would be impossibly expensive for me. I therefore try not to go down to London 2 days in a row, and certainly never more than 2 in a row. Which is making deciding which dates to go to Giselle & Manon in January rather complicated.

[Emeralds]

On 19/08/2023 at 12:05, emmarose said:

I have no idea what to do for seating, I've never seen ballet at the Coli, and usually go for dress for everything else there. 

 

I like the close stalls circle at the ROH, does anyone have any advice on where to sit? Are the boxes good value/good sightlines? 

The Stalls level boxes at the back and sides at the Coliseum are probably the most similar to the ROH Stalls Circle except that they are and they do feel further back from the stage than the Stalls Circle at ROH. They’re also designed for privacy whereas the ROH SC is a full section/level so the prices are accordingly high and may not feel like good “value”, unless you feel that the privacy is worth paying for. NB at the Coliseum the box seats (like RAH) are sold as individual seats so unlike the ROH where you have to buy all the seats in a box, at the Coliseum or RAH, if you don’t buy all the seats, they can and do get sold to strangers, and it can feel claustrophobic or uncomfortable if you happen to be seated with people who do not behave considerately, sitting in the same box with you, that may be less so if they were just one of many in a row.

 

Eg when we first tried buying just half a box (2 seats) at the Coliseum, the other two patrons who had arrived very early took our seats,  moved them to cover up the seating plan and tried to trick us into thinking I’d bought the more restricted view seats in that box by mistake- it wasn’t until I walked over to an unoccupied box and checked the seat plan there, noticed that they’d moved the chairs on purpose, that they vacated our seats and took their real seats instead. They didn’t return after the interval -I don’t know where they moved to for the second half of the performance as the theatre looked quite full. The side boxes nearest the stage are restricted view in the same way that ROH boxes are - as you get closer to the stage, the more restricted your view of that side of the stage is. I think the Coliseum’s boxes overall have less restricted views than the ROH ones because they jut out more (and no ROH lamps sticking out), but all the side boxes have a degree of restriction, and while the central boxes don’t, they do feel further away than the most central grand tier boxes at ROH. 

 

Dress Circle at the Coliseum feels more comfortable than the cheaper areas of the auditorium (slightly bigger seats, being closer to the stage, fewer seats in that level, etc). Caveat: for many performances, the back few rows of the Dress Circle are often priced the same as the front half of the Upper Circle. For me, I’d prefer to sit in the first half of Upper Circle than the back two rows of the Dress  Circle, as the overhang of the Tier above feels more  pronounced at the back of the Dress  Circle than in the UC. But other people might prefer the DC for the same price, due to a) quicker exit at the end of the show, b) shorter queues for the restrooms at the interval, and other reasons. 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Emeralds